A listening route through D'Arienzo

The chapter works as a sequence of contrasts: *Hotel Victoria* precedes Biagi’s arrival, *Nueve de julio* introduces his sharp beat, and *La puñalada* brings the milonga that Lavocah identifies as D’Arienzo’s first major hit. ^[1] Later stops shift attention from personnel to sound, including Polito’s piano in *Mandria*, the pronounced stops and volume changes in *Loca*, and the rhythmic base beneath *Uno*. ^[1][2]

The years attached to these selections identify recordings in Lavocah’s listening route; they do not establish when the compositions were first performed. ^[1][2]

Begin with *Hotel Victoria* (1935), which Lavocah places just before Biagi changed the orchestra’s sound, then compare it with *Nueve de julio* (1935), Biagi’s first recording with D’Arienzo. ^[1] Lavocah directs attention to the latter’s sharply marked beats. ^[1] The next stop, *La puñalada* (1937), changes the form as well as the pace of the route: it is the chapter’s milonga. ^[1]

*Pensalo bien* (1938) pairs Biagi’s piano with Alberto Echagüe’s voice; Lavocah says only four tracks featured that combination. ^[1] He advises listening to a transfer at its proper speed to hear Echagüe’s voice. ^[1] By *Mandria* (1939), Biagi had left and Juan Polito was at the piano. ^[1]

In *Loca* (1942), Lavocah hears more exaggerated pauses and sudden changes of volume than in the earlier selections. ^[1] He describes *Uno* (1943) as sensitive while retaining a strong rhythmic base. ^[2] *Amarras* (1944) then brings Héctor Mauré’s singing into what Lavocah calls a more melodic direction, distant from the orchestra’s earlier sound. ^[2]

Lavocah lists *La cumparsita* recordings from 1937, 1943, 1951, 1963, and 1971, inviting a comparison across the orchestra’s changing periods. ^[2] He says the tango closed dancing at the Chantecler cabaret. ^[2] The remaining stops are *Yapeyú* (1951), his example of a renewed older piece, and the energetic *Este es el rey* (1971). ^[2]

After his wife’s death in 1972, D’Arienzo reduced his activity and entrusted Carlos Lázzari with leading the band’s other public performances, while continuing to work with it on television and in the studio. ^[3] At D’Arienzo’s suggestion, Lázzari formed Los Solistas de D’Arienzo with Milo Dojman, Guerra, and Normando Lázara; Echagüe and Osvaldo Ramos sang with the group. ^[3] Los Solistas continued under that name after D’Arienzo’s death in 1976, while other former musicians formed Los Reyes del Compás. ^[3][4] These groups belong after the recordings in Lavocah’s listening sequence. ^[2][3][4]