Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel

Marcelo Alvarez (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 29, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004WK4C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,983 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #69 in Music > Classical > Ballets & Dances > Tangos

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This recording brings together Argentine tenor Marcelo Álvarez, who only recently became famous as an opera singer, and Carlos Gardel, Argentine creator and singer of tangos, who became a national hero and a legend. Fortunately, Gardel recorded many of his songs (including those on this disc) before his tragic early death in 1935. The arranger transforms the final song into a surprise duet by adding Gardel's recorded voice to Álvarez's. The popularity of these tangos is not surprising: Their melodies are beautiful, as simple and direct as their emotional appeal. The harmonies underline the changing moods, with verses alternating major and minor. Álvarez clearly has a natural affinity for this music. His voice is light but intense; as on his debut recording of operatic arias, Bel canto, Álvarez uses his voice well and varies it expressively, making the predominantly melancholy, yearning songs passionately full of lament, and suffusing the lively, cheerful dances with a smile. The strongly jazz-influenced arrangements use the instrumental combination for utmost variety. Each of the players--Argentine musicians to the manner born--gives a unique stylistic stamp to superbly imaginative improvisations. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great CD for tango and Gardel fans!, September 24, 2000

By 

Daniel D. Kim "illuminatus" (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel (Audio CD)

I picked this up with cusiosity. It was very well made. I was not familiar with Marcelo Alvarez and was very surprised by his good voice which resembles that of Placido Domingo strikingly. The arrangements of the original tango pieces were done very elegantly. As a matter of fact, I think some of them were done much better than in original Gardel's CDs. I highly recommend this CD.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally more of Gardel!, December 1, 2003

By 

Rosomax (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel (Audio CD)

In the 1980s, Plácido Domingo recorded a 40-minute LP "Tangos" - a 10-track collection of popular and rare tangos by various composers. Naturally, Carlos Gardel was represented in a good 1/3 of them, and it only whetted my appetite to hear more. His tangos were the most achingly-beautiful, emotionally charged, and passionately melodic. Unfortunately, the lukewarm response from critics prevented Domingo from recording more of this material.
Thankfully, Marcello Alvarez came along and decided to record an entire album dedicated to Gardel. Blessed with a velvety dark tenor, which is very similar to Domingo's, even if not as flawlessly produced in the high register, Alvarez does these tangos well-deserved justice.
On a final track, the well-known "Mi Buenos Aires Querido" the recording technology allowed for a surprising trick - mixing the actual voice of Gardel (circa 1934) with Alvarez's, so that it's a duet of a sort. Those of you who have old Gardel recordings know that he had a somewhat wobbly, but very soulful and even mourning quality to his voice. So it's a bit strange to combine it with too-healthy voice of Alvarez.
The rest of the collection shines, though. The tenor's excellent breath control allows him to deliver the melodies in sweeping blasts of tone. The tempos are very "danceable" (if you know how to tango, of course). He correctly goes "full-out" on some selections, since the tango is the one of the most passionate musical expressions and one actually should go overboard when needed. The accompanying instruments correctly include the traditional bandoneon, violin, piano, and bass, as well as the optional guitar.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great music, great voice-wrong fit, April 17, 2002

By 

"katia38" (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel (Audio CD)

Being very unfamiliar with Tango (OK I have the same cartoonish images that everyone does of people striding across the floor with roses clenched in their teeth) I got this CD because i like Alvarez. I was immediately captivated by the quirky, compelling rhythms and the dramatic, expressive melodies! I even wondered if Marcello's sunny, handsome voice didn't overwhelm the music. Hearing Gardel's quavering voice on the last piece "Mi Buenos Aires querido" and actually reading the lyrics to the songs defined the discrepancy: Alvarez's voice is entirely too happy to sing Tango! You can almost hear him smile!

A line from the film "The Tango Lesson" (watch this and see Pablo Veron in action-WOW!)summed it up best: "One must have lived and suffered to understand our tango."