295  In Search of Fidelity

Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 15:52:33 -0600
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: In Search of Fidelity

Rick Anderson wrote:

>I just wish that someone would include music for beginners of a higher
>fidelity, that captures the essence & soul of the original orchestra. ...
>[W]e have what seems like 2 hours solid of the lower fidelity music. Then,
>... the beautiful, lush, rich, soulful music will appear for a few sets
>& then more lower fidelity music.

I think the role of music in attracting beginners to tango is too easily
underestimated. It may be fair to say that many of us more experienced
tango dancers have learned to live with limitations of available recordings
and have developed the ability to enjoy dancing to music of such low
fidelity that it would be quite easy for an outsider to think we are
dancing to what we imagine we are hearing rather than what any normal
person can hear. When I was a beginner, the first live orchestra--The New
York-Buenos Aires Connection--that I heard at a milonga forever changed how
I heard tango music.

Few milongas have live music, and the challenge is finding a sufficient
variety of recorded music with acceptable fidelity and solid dance rhythms,
but I think more can be done.

For starters, the DJ can work to improve the sound chain--working with CDs
(rather than lower fidelity media, such as MP-3s) and relatively good
equipment. I also hear substantial differences between the quality of
transfer from the original recordings to CD on the different labels that
are reissuing classic material, and the DJ can work to get the best
sounding recordings of the most popular tangos. For most material that I
have heard, I would generally rate the sound quality on the major tango
labels as follows (starting with the best):

1. RCA Victor 100 Anos (limited titles)
2. Solo Tango (limited titles)
3. EMI Reliquias, Tango Argentino, EMI
4. Blue Moon, El Bandoneon
5. Harlequin

One should also recognize that recordings made prior to the golden age are
such limited fidelity that they can be used only very sparingly. Yes,
Ciriaco Ortiz, Orquesta Tipica Victor, Julio De Caro, Francisco Lomuto, and
Band Municipal de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires recorded great music, but a
several tandas in a row of decidedly low-fidelity music will put all--but
the tango historians who are more likely to write and talk about tango than
dance--to sleep. Recordings from the golden age of tango (late 1930s to
early 1950s) are of much better fidelity, but still do not compare well
with contemporary recordings. Strategies to improve sound quality
inevitably involve looking for a the few gems that somehow were recorded
with better fidelity and using music that was recorded after the golden
age.

It is of some help that many of the great orchestras of the golden age
recorded into the 1950s and 60s, but only of limited help. By the 1950s,
the major orchestras made a transition from playing dance music to playing
concert music. The Troilo orchestra is one of the best examples. The
early Troilo recordings--instrumental and vocals--had solid dance rhythms
and are considered classics. The later Troilo recordings display virtuosic
playing and a truly compelling concert sound--that is likely to prove quite
challenging for most beginning to intermediate social dancers. Some of the
later Pugliese recordings are useful for social dance, and they have pretty
good fidelity.

Much better fidelity can be obtained by using recordings made by
transition-era orchestras, later orchestras that played with a golden age
sound, recordings for tango shows, and modern dance orchestras, but the
sound pallette offered to the DJ by such recordings is surprisingly
limited. The emergence of a concert sound--which used lush orchestration
and/or was profoundly influenced by the pgrogessive developments pioneered
by Pugliese, Piazzolla and Salgan--has created a relatively large catalog
of tango music that has been recorded with reasonably good to excellent
fidelity, but has a submerged dance beat and offers much less diversity
than the recordings from the golden age.

Below is my assessment of what is available in well-recorded tango music.
As you will see, the possibilities are somewhat limited in range. Most of
these recordings are typically found to be more useful for late-night
dancing when dancers are more willing to work with a submerged beat. To
program a full evening with the currently available recordings, to program
a full evening and use a broad pallette of music, the DJ must rely heavily
on the recordings from the golden age.

With best regards,
Steve (de Tejas)


*Golden Age and Old-Guard Redux*

Juan D'Arienzo--Tangos Para El Mundo, volumes 1 and 2 (Tango Argentino
BMG-RCA)
These two CDs capture some of the D'Arienzo orchestra's later recordings,
after it shifted toward concert music. The fidelity is great, and many
tracks are suitable for dancing, but they are not the classics.

Orquesta Juan D'Arienzo--La Cumparsita (Phillips 832 799-2)
On this recent high-quality recording, the orchestra is led by a former
D'Arienzo side man. The orchestra plays in D'Arienzo's style but takes
many of the songs at a faster tempo than most would like for social dance.
(may be discontinued)

Los Solistas de D'Arienzo--Lo Mejor de (Music Hall)
This CD contains a relatively recent set of recordings of classic tangos
played in D'Arienzo's style. The music does not have quite the playful
energy of authentic D'Arienzo recordings, but the recording is of much
higher fidelity. (discontinued).

Los Tubatango--Una Noche de Garufa (Music Hall)
A modern-era recording with music played in the old-guard style on guitar,
bandoneon, tuba and flute. Works more as a novelty recording.
(discontinued)

Dan Diaz and the Tango Camerata
Dan Diaz is leading a modern-era dance orchestra that has some elements of
the progressive (Pugliese/Piazzolla/Salgan) sound but has adhered to more
of golden age dance sound--even when playing Piazzolla's music. The one
available recording is of a trio with bandoneon, guitar and bass. I find
the valses on this CD the most compelling for social dance. I found it
difficult to assemble a tanda of tangos from the one currently available CD
because the sound was a little too diverse. Fortunately, more is on the
way.

*Lush Transition-Era Orchestration*

Anibal Troilo--Sus Ultimates Instrumentales (Tango Argentino)
Well recorded music from the concert era that with a few exceptions lacks
the beat to support most styles of social dance.

Florindo Sassone--Bien Milonguero, volumes 1 and 2 (EMI Reliquias)
Florindo Sassone was heavily influenced by his instructors, Roberto Firpo
and Osvaldo Fresedo. He also played in the DiSarli orchestra. As a
leader, his music combined the smooth rhythmic feel of DiSarli and the
lyrical sound of Fresedo with the fuller, stronger and more dramatic
ochestration that characterized the transistion era. The fidelity is
greater than that found on most Di Sarli recordings, but the dance beat is
more deeply submerged, and the music is less compelling.

Hector Varela--various recordings
Hector Varela was the first bandoneonist in Juan D'Arienzo's orchestra for
many years. He later led a popular transition era orchestra that retained
elements of D'Arienzo's dance beat while taking on a spacious concert sound
somewhat reminiscent of Di Sarli.

Carlos Garcia and Tango All Stars--Tango II (JVC)
This CD includes versions of several Piazzolla tangos that are suitable for
dancing. Everyone seems to love the versions of La Cumparsita and Adios
Nonino on this CD when played at the right time, but some of the music is
lost in the lush orchestration. (discontinued)

Orquesta Francini/Pontier--Tango I (JVC)
Francini and Pontier both played with the Miguel Calo orchestra before
striking out together to form their own orchestra. In some ways, their
orchestra represents a continuation of the Calo sound into the concert era,
but with a much fuller concert orchestration instead of a dance-band sound.
This CD has many tangos suitable for dancing, but the overblown orchestral
arrangements can grow tiresome if played too often or in combination with
other highly orchestrated music. (discontinued) The earlier
Francini/Pontier recording on El Bandoneon is of particularly low fidelity.

*Progressive (Pugliese/Piazzolla/Salgan) Sensibilities*

Osvaldo Pugliese--Instrumentales Inolvidables, Vol. 3 (EMI Reliquias)
This CD contains Gallo Ciego, Pata Ancha and a number of other outstanding
instrumentals that the Pugliese orchestra recorded in its transition from
dance
orchestra to concert orchestra. Many would be suitable for late-evening
dancing.

Osvaldo Pugliese--From Argentina to the World (EMI)
Most of the tracks on this CD were recorded for listening rather than
dancing. If you are building a collection strictly for dancing and want to
consider a more
modern sound, this excellent CD is still worthy consideration. About half
of the songs are suitable for late evening dancing.

Osvaldo Pugliese--Nostalgico (EMI)
Most of the tracks on this CD were recorded for listening rather than
dancing. If you are building a collection strictly for dancing and want to
consider a more
modern sound, this excellent CD is still worthy consideration. About half
of the songs are suitable for late evening dancing.

Anibal Troilo--RCA Victor 100 Anos
Very well recorded music from the concert era that lacks the beat to
support most styles of social dance. Shows strong influence of the
Pugliese/Piazzola sensibilities.

Sexeto Tango--various recordings
This orchestra was formed by members of a later Pugliese orchestra and went
further toward a concert sound.

Orquesta Color Tango--various recordings
An outstanding orchestra that started with a Pugliese/Piazzolla concert
sound but has moved toward a Pugliese dance sound.

Sexteto Sur--various recordings
Another outstanding orchestra with Pugliese/Piazzolla dance sound.

Quinteto Francisco Canaro (Melopea Discos)
Under the direction of Antonio Alessandro, this quintet plays classics of
tango in a modern style with pgrogressive sensibilities. Some of it is
suitable for social dancing. Most is too complex.

Tango Bar (Chesky)
An audiophile recording, bearing no relationship to movies of the same
name, in which the music was arranged by Raul Juarena (of the New York
Tango Trio). The arrangements combine elements of Calo's sound with a more
progressive sound. Some of the pieces are suitable for dancing. With a
little bit of work, a DJ could assemble a fairly decent tanda from this CD
that could be used from mid to late evening.

El Arranque--various recordings
A progressive sound

Piazolla, Mosalini and Ziegler--various recordings
Recordings by these three artists are widely available and highly regarded
for listening, but they did not record tango music with social dancing in
mind. Those who dance the liquid and nuevo styles of tango are beginning to
use these recordings for social dancing. Dancers of other social styles
may dismiss such dancing as largely theatrical. All of these recordings
reflect and the the Piazzolla sensibility, and some of the Piazzolla
recordings are of shockingly low fidelity.

Nuevo Quinteto Real--various recordings
Draws heavily on the Salgan sound, and is firmly entrenched in the
progressive sound developed in the concert era.

Gidon Kremer--Hommage a Piazzolla
The music on this CD is dark and dramatic, drawing out classical elements
in Piazzolla's music. It is not really rhythmic enough for most styles of
social dancing. On the right night, "Oblivion" could be used in late in
the evening.

Daniel Barenboim--Mi Buenos Aires Querido: Tangos Among Friends
The music on this CD absolutely wonderful and recorded with the best
fidelity that I have heard on any tango recording. It draws out the
classical elements of progressive tango, and none of the songs have a
rhythm that is really compelling for social dancing. One or two might be
useable for late evening dancing.

New York Tango Trio--Cabarute (Lyrichord 7428)
Some of the rhythm changes can be a bit tricky, and one or two numbers get
a bit manic toward the end. Works decently when used sparingly for social
dance. Seems to sound muddy of low-fidelity equipment.

Trio Hugo Diaz--various recordings
A group comprising great bandoneon, guitar, and bass. Recorded some dance
music which has a dreamy feel that can be used for a fun change of pace.
On most recordings, the rhythm changes yields music tha is not suitable for
social dancing.

Trio Pantango--Tango Argentino (ARC EUCD 1257)
This CD features solid playing on bandoneon, guitar, and bass. Some of the
music has a dreamy feel, which can be fun for a change of pace in dancing.
Sometimes the music just floats away

Litto Nebia Quinteto--Tangos Argentinos de Enrique Cadicamo (Iris 980)
A very well recorded CD of somewhat progressive music played on guitar,
bandoneon, piano, bass and violin. The music can be used during the
resolution or denouement of the evening's dancing. It can also be used to
refresh the dancers as the drama is building toward the height of the
evening. Although the music has a simple, clear beat, it does not seem to
inspire dancers when it is played early in the evening.

Music for Stage Dancing
Music for the stage draws from the progressive sensibilites and uses lush
orchestration, fast tempos and difficult rhythm changes. Some of offerings
include Sexteto Mayor, Forever Tango and Tango X 2 recordings. The few
numbers that are suitable for social dancing on these recordings draw very
heavily from the progressive sensibilities

-fin-

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 10:57:27 -0600
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: In Search of Fidelity

When I first began dancing tango (about 8 years ago), tango recordings
seemed quite limited in availability. Poor fidelity was the rule rather
than the exception. Club Tango Argentino (available only in Argentina) and
Harlequin were among the prominent labels, and they both had very poor
fidelity. Music Hall (now defunct), EMI, FM Tango (now Solo Tango) had
sound that ranged from good to excellent, but provided only limited
coverage of the huge catalog of tango dance material that was potentially
available. The FM tango CDs generally had a higher quality sound. The FM
Tango and EMI labels were only available in Argentina or through select
importers. Music Hall was most readily obtained in Argentina but available
in the United States.

The early El Bandoneon releases were initially difficult to obtain and also
had limited fidelity. But El Bandoneon gradually improved its sound
quality (unlike Harlequin), and it proved that a market existed for
reissued tango music. The relatively new Tango Argentino and EMI Reliquias
labels have reissued much of the same material as El Bandoneon and
generally have much higher sound quality than is found on the El Bandoneon
recordings.

The sound quality of the first El Bandoneon release Anibal Troilo--El
Inmortal Pichuco is so bad that I rarely used it. Fortunately, two newer
releases Anibal Troilo--Instrumental (Tango Argentino) and
Troilo/Fiorentino (Solo Tango) have much higher sound quality, which means
that I can now use this fabulous music with some regularity.

In order to bring my collection of CDs up to the highest sound standards,
however, I have ended up duplicating much of the lower fidelity recordings
in my collection over the past year and a half as new releases of older
material came out on the Tango Argentino, EMI Reliquias, Solo Tango and RCA
Victor 100 Anos labels. In the process, I increased my collection of tango
CDs from around 120 to more than 200.

From my collection, I have developed enough pre-set tandas to play about 12
hours of tango classics (without repeats) where the sound quality is about
as good as Pugliese's La Yumba (from the Tango Lesson soundtrack or
Ausencia). I have also been to milongas in other cities, where the DJ was
able to play classics and maintain about the same level of sound quality.

My list of tandas is available at
<https://www.tejastango.com/milongas_djsrole.html>.

With best regards,
Steve

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 11:22:35 -0600
From: Bibib Wong <bibibwong@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: In Search of Fidelity

Since we discuss the issue of fidelity of CDs, I had this question all
along.

I came to realize there was a CD under the label "Nights of Buenos Aires"
(something like that) by EMI, while there was another CD under the label
"The Story of Tango" by Hemisphere with the same contents and same order of
songs.

I stumbled upon this fact as the first CD was introduced to me by my friend
who raved about the high fidelity. Upon closer inspection, to my naked ear,
both sounds just as good.

Is Hemisphere the same as EMI? I noticed the three alphabets EMI are
highlightted in the word Hemisphere? Why they are sold under different
labels, or was the former CD discontinued? I seemed to see a lot of the
latter CD in the current market.

Bibi (just returned to chgo)

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 12:40:40 -0600
From: "Frank G. Williams" <frankw@MAIL.AHC.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Re: In Search of Fidelity

Thanks, Steve, for another very useful, thoughtful post!

> *Lush Transition-Era Orchestration*
>
> Anibal Troilo--Sus Ultimates Instrumentales (Tango Argentino)
> Well recorded music from the concert era that with a few exceptions lacks
> the beat to support most styles of social dance.
>
> Florindo Sassone--Bien Milonguero, volumes 1 and 2 (EMI Reliquias)
> Florindo Sassone was heavily influenced by his instructors, Roberto Firpo
> and Osvaldo Fresedo. He also played in the DiSarli orchestra. As a
> leader, his music combined the smooth rhythmic feel of DiSarli and the
> lyrical sound of Fresedo with the fuller, stronger and more dramatic
> ochestration that characterized the transistion era. The fidelity is
> greater than that found on most Di Sarli recordings, but the dance beat > is more deeply submerged, and the music is less compelling.

When I first heard Sassone it really caught my attention because of the
combination of better-than-average fidelity and unusual arrangements. I
acquired a few discs, but now I use it very sparingly because those
arrangements sound so simplistic. ...all those instruments and yet so
few voices! If one is selective it can be OK for the beginners but it
is definitely "early in the evening" music, IMHO.

Steve gave fairly concise reviews of many recordings that are more
intended for listening but on which only a few tracks may be fun for
dancing [once the juices are really flowing]. I heard a particular disc
that I must tell you about. In Portland my girlfriend and I had a quiet
dinner with el Pulpo y Luiza, who were teaching at the TangoFest. They
were both interesting and engaging, and el Pulpo seemed to have a way of
making himself at home in the environment of a casual bar/restaurant.
...first thing he did was make friends with the bartender! Maybe ten
minutes later, in the course of conversation about life and tango, he
pulled a CD from his CD wallet and took it up to the bartender, who
played it for the customers. It was interesting! The
Esbrez-Salamanca-Celenza trio, who rendered a selection of tango
classics with a slighty (to moderately) jazzy lilt. The recording was
from the early 60's, and it was Pulpo's father playing bandonneon. The
music was well played and interesting - not really for dancing but then,
that's the fun and challenge for both the musician and dancer: to take
something that you know well and tweak it to suit your mood. I have not
heard ANYTHING that sounds quite like this, and some renditions succeed
better than others, but it would be fun music to add to one's 'eclectic'
category (for selective "late evening mind games"). Having borrowed the
disc briefly, I can tell you that the tracks are:
Canaro en Paris
Nunca tuvo novio
Desde el alma
La cautiva
Payadora
Inspiracion
Ahi va el dulce
Mi refugio
Mi dolor
Pedacito de cielo
El choclo

I don't know if the music is "published" and for sale, I suspect only
through Pulpo himself. Ask him to hear it when he's in your
neighborhood for teaching. [e-mail: pulpotangolucky@hotmail.com].

And BTW, thanks to the many warm Oregonians whose generosity and
enthusiasm were/are so contagious. The TangoFest experience was truly
memorable!

Frank in Minneapolis

Frank G. Williams, Ph.D. University of Minnesota
frankw@mail.ahc.umn.edu Dept. of Neuroscience
(612) 625-6441 (office) 321 Church Street SE
(612) 624-4436 (lab) Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 281-3860 (cellular/home)

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 21:09:10 -0500
From: Natarajan Balasundara <rajan@EMC.COM>
Subject: Re: In Search of Fidelity

-----Original Message-----

Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 13:28:41 -0800
From: sarah La Rocca <danzisima@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: in search of

Dear List,

I need to contact Pablo Aslan of the NY Tango Trio
regarding a business/professioanl matter. Pablo, are
you out there? It's me-Sarah, please email me!
Does anyone know his email address?

Thank you,
Sarah La Rocca
NYC