Skip to content

Topic

Hidden sophistication in D'Arienzo

Michael Lavocah describes D'Arienzo's late-1940s instrumentals as a neglected part of the repertoire. He finds a softer, more decorative sound in recordings that retained the orchestra's steady beat. [1][2]

Lavocah traces the change through pieces D'Arienzo had also performed in the 1930s, including Sábado inglés, La guitarrita, Felicia and Derecho viejo. In the later versions, he hears less intensity and more decoration. [1] The contrast is especially clear in the 1946 Sábado inglés: its steady pulse gives way, in the chorus, to descending runs and unusual harmonies. [2]

The period was varied rather than uniformly restrained. Lavocah also describes a broader vocal repertoire, with countryside settings, older songs revived for the orchestra, and numbers shaped by restrictions on lunfardo in broadcast lyrics. [3] The pairing of Alberto Echagüe and Armando Laborde gave D'Arienzo contrasting voices for that repertoire. [4]

Arrangement and dynamics

In the 1947 instrumental Lágrimas, Fulvio Salamanca's piano moves between low-register figures and high repeated-note fills. The violins take a repeat of the verse; later, the instrumentation changes from phrase to phrase before a piano solo unfolds over the beat. Lavocah treats those changes of register, texture and space as part of the recording's character. [5]

The 1949 La maleva offers a more uncertain balance. Salamanca decorates the opening, while the final trio briefly turns inward as the bandoneons carry the melody over a soft accompaniment. A short variation then restores the orchestra's drive. Lavocah hears both possibilities in the arrangement, but also a sense that its direction was unsettled. [6]

Voices and repertoire

Laborde joined after Héctor Mauré's departure to sing repertoire that needed a contrasting voice beside Echagüe's. Lavocah characterizes Laborde's delivery as darker and more dramatic than Mauré's, and argues that the Echagüe–Laborde pairing marked a change in both style and repertoire. [4] On the 1945 Pájaro sin luz, Laborde sings over a strong beat, long pauses and an unusually soft dynamic; the darker verse gives way to a more lyrical chorus. [7]

The two singers share the 1945 Aparcero. Echagüe takes its verse, while their voices join at reduced volume in the softer chorus, matching the song's move from forceful opening to countryside lament. [8] In the 1946 Desde aquella noche, Salamanca's piano continues to answer and decorate Laborde's singing, creating what Lavocah describes as an almost conversational relationship between voice and instrument. [9]

Echagüe's material followed another path. Lavocah points to the dense lunfardo of the 1948 Cartón junao and to the extreme spoken phrasing of the 1946 Esta noche me emborracho. His assessment of the latter performance is mixed, illustrating that the chapter's claim of sophistication does not amount to praise for every recording from these years. [10][11]

References

How Tangopedia works

  1. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, p. 154 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“The performances are more decorative and have a softer feel.”
  2. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, p. 160 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“strange descending runs (0'36 - 0'51") which present unusual harmonies”
  3. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, pp. 154–155 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“For D'Arienzo, this meant a broadening and a dilution of the repertoire.”
  4. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, pp. 149–152 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“with the pairing of Echagüe and Laborde, the band will plot a new and different course”
  5. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, pp. 161–162 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“The instrumentation changes with every phrase, adding a lot of colour to the music.”
  6. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, pp. 164–165 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“blending Troilo's introversion with D'Arienzo's drive”
  7. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, p. 157 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“The arrangement has long pauses which are not the sudden stops we associate with the band”
  8. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, p. 156 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“D'Arienzo gives the verse to Echagüe and interprets the softer chorus with a vocal duet”
  9. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, pp. 159–160 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“the tango almost becomes a dialogue between voice and piano”
  10. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, pp. 163–164 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“With its lunfardo-rich lyric and its subject matter (criminality) this tango would certainly have been banned on the radio.”
  11. Michael Lavocah, Tango Masters: Juan D'Arienzo, pp. 160–161 (ISBN 978-1-9997551-2-6) · milongapress.comSource page“The phrasing (fraseo) - the stretching of the words and phrases over the musical notes allotted to them”
Data: recordings, facts and sources

No published facts yet. Facts appear here, each with its source, as they are collected.

Listen

No recordings to play yet.

Ask Tangopedia

Answers only from cited facts, each with its source.