Monday, March 4, 2013

Tanda of the Week 04 / 2013 -
Juan D'Arienzo (valses)









1. Juan D'Arienzo / Alberto Echagüe - "Ay, aurora" 1939 - iTunes Store
2. Juan D'Arienzo / Alberto Echagüe - "Cabeza de novia" 1938 - iTunes Store
3. Juan D'Arienzo / Alberto Echagüe - "Recuerdos de la pampa" 1939 - iTunes Store

It's good to have some upbeat D'Arienzo vals tandas in your arsenal. Enjoy!

D'Arienzo, Juan - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - iTunes Store
Echagüe, Alberto - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - iTunes Store

 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Tanda of the Week 03 / 2013 -
Pedro Laurenz (instrumentals)


1. Pedro Laurenz - "Arrabal" 1937
2. Pedro Laurenz - "Orgullo criollo" 1941
3. Pedro Laurenz - "Amurado" 1952
4. Pedro Laurenz - "La cumparsita" 1953


Here's a tanda celebrating the genius of the bandeonist, composer and director Pedro Laurenz (1902-1972).

"After [...] prominent times with De Caro, [...] Laurenz formed his own orchestra in 1934, as though envisaging that the instrumental tango needed a new style. He [...] entrusted the piano to another De Caro follower -the today revered Osvaldo Pugliese, an artist of a renewing spirit. In 1937 he started recording for the Víctor company, and his version of "Arrabal" by the pianist José Pascual, is considered by some scholars, as the hinge of the newly born "golden epoch" of the tango which would reach the top in the 40s." - Julio Nudler, TodoTango

Indeed, if you compare "Arrabal" to any other recording from any orchestra from 1937 or before, you can hear how groundbreaking it truly was and I have to say it is one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately the small discography of Pedro Laurenz had only a few instrumentals, and in this tanda I'm trying to get past the fact of just that, by playing this tanda as the last one of the night and adding the less known Laurenz version of "La cumparsita" as the fourth song. "Mala Junta" from 1947 is great but instrumentals like "De antaño", "La beba" and "Boedo" all from 1946 don't really have the same energy, dynamics and classic status as the first three songs of this tanda. There is a 1947 version of "Amurado" (and of course the 1940 vocal version with Juan Carlos Casas) but this time I went with the stronger 1952 version, which is closer to the sound of "La cumparsita", although the 1947 version might be closer to other songs.

So we have a tanda ranging from 1937 all the way to 1953 but I believe we have two good reasons for bending the rules (of creating tandas) a bit. First, the exceptional skill and style of the Laurenz orquesta is amazing from the first track to the last one and the 16 year time travel within 4 songs is not that obvious to most of us. Second, if you want to hear a Laurenz instrumental tanda then honestly you don't have many options!

For an alternative version of a Laurenz instrumental tanda I would play something like Arrabal (1937) - Orguillo criollo (1941) - Mala Junta (1947) - Amurado (1947). Sometimes I play two instrumentals and two vocal songs and that might work well also.

Enjoy!

Laurenz, Pedro - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store


Tanda of the Week 02 / 2013 - Osvaldo Pugliese (instrumentals)

I'm sorry for the long break in posting and updating Tanda of the Week. Here's a beautiful, somewhat challenging but very rewarding Pugliese instrumental tanda for all you Pugliese addicts out there. The tanda is available on Spotify.

This is a tanda that I've made quite recently, and I've played it only once, and have had to hold it back a few times when the moment wasn't right and I played something more familiar from Pugliese instead. I would be interested to hear your comments on this one.

Check out more of my Spotify playlists at www.tangovalsmilonga.com.

Pugliese, Osvaldo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store