Carlos Gardel con
la orquesta
de Alfredo de Angelis
In 1974, Alfredo de Angelis, determined to perpetuate the work of Carlos Gardel, more attached to his work than to his myth, decided to carry out a technical studio reconstruction of 24 Gardel songs, replacing the accompaniment of the three guitars of Ricardo, Barbieri and Aguilar with that of his orchestra.
Despite those who, with unmistakable dithyrambic intent, have alluded to the "Gardel myth", EMI-ODEON proves every day, through the dissemination of the great singer's voice and art, that there is no such thing as "myth", but a clear and constant reality. That's why Gardel is in the news every day. Today, he is again: Carlos Gardel sings accompanied by Alfredo de Angelis' orchestra. We are announcing the good news with this first recording of this long-awaited conjunction. It is therefore appropriate to give a brief but circumstantial account of the event.
The introduction of orchestral coupling in versions with guitars - which is the object of the work - is only possible in cases where the guitars are below the level of Gardel's voice. At the same level, it's impossible. As a result, and against our wishes, some successful compositions have unfortunately had to be omitted from this production.
Alfredo De Angelis's orchestral arrangements, in their meticulous structure of adaptation, must yield a good deal to subjectivity, as it would be illogical to erase the primitivism of the accompanying strings to introduce an irreconcilable, entirely modern sound. Likewise, the approach is cautiously restrained in the face of the temptations offered by today's recording technology. Today, our studio consoles pick up up to eight channels of reception, and the most advanced versions of Carlos Gardel at the time were picked up by no more than a single microphone. The old method consisted of diffused compression of the sound, especially the high and very low frequencies. Today's perfected technique defines all sound volumes with strict fidelity.
Our orientation, first thought out and then resolutely practiced, was to respect the silences and breaths of the exalted singer; to bring out the emotionality of these pauses, refraining from filling them with chords, and instead using the chords to overcome the noises slipped into the imperfection of the old registers.
Alfredo De Angelis's arrangements consist respectively of his personal piano part, the bandoneon and violin parts, and the double bass part. It's worth noting that the members of the orchestra put in a considerable effort, as the joint task was doubled, with the recording of each theme taking two hours.
With the orchestra in the recording room, in full performance of its parts and its members listening to Gardel's voice through headphones, the phonomagnetic tape is printed by seven channels, which can be correlatively determined as follows: 1) double bass; 2) piano; 3 and 4) bandoneons; 5 and 6) violins; 7) vocals and guitars. The technical work that ensues takes many days and has an unmistakable objective: to graduate the tone of Gardel's original register in the search for the precious balance with the new accompaniment.
It's in this "mixing" work - to put it in the jargon of the profession - that the acknowledged skill of maestro Carlos García comes into play: with orchestral score in hand, he indicates to the technician, in the middle of the action, the important passages of each orchestral family or soloist. The CD we present is the culmination of this work, carried out with the fervor that Carlos Gardel's incomparable art inspires and deserves. Alfredo de Angelis believes that this initial work, and the one he has set out to continue, will be useful as long as the listener shows the same fervor and continues to surrender to the irresistible seduction of the immortal voice.
