Customer Reviews

Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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."

La mayoría de los cantantes de ópera, cuando se deciden a interpretar música popular, tratan de llevar el sonido operístico a la sencillez de la expresión que es justamente lo que le da esa forma "popular" al estilo... Es esto lo que ocurre con Marcelo Álvarez. La voz es brillante, sonora, y evidentemente la luce espectacularmente... pero ¿qué hay del tango?, ¿dónde está el sonido lastimero, irónico y decadente que esperamos de las canciones de Gardel? y, peor aún, ¿dónde está el español de marcelo Álvarez?. Para cualquier cantante, la dicción y fluidez de la lengua no debe ser un problema cuando canta en su propio idioma, pero Marcelo Álvarez suena artificial completamente, y esa exageración en todas las "R" se vuelve un cansancio desde la primera canción...
Sin embargo, la voz no puede negarse que es hermosa, y el acompañamiento es perfecto... Los arreglos son todos en un estilo impecable, el sonido del conjunto tanguero es al tiempo que arriesgado y doliente muy refinado... lo que hace aún más triste que el tenor no esté a la altura de la música que interpreta.

Well, when I listened to Gardel I never tried to separate the singer from the composer. Until I heard this CD. Here you have the best gardel tango songs but not played by him, instead by ... an opera singer !!!! What????
Please go on listening and you will find the virtues of this CD. Yes, 49 min is a bit short. In fact is the only one mistake of the CD.
The singer. Marcelo Alvarez is Argentine. And he sings opera. that is what he shows here. He sings the songs in an operatic way. True tango style is not used (except for a few words). But he does not try to imitate it! He is not a tango singer and he does not want to be it. Simply he interprets the songs with a style that is also able to reflect the universal moods which appear in the songs. So please don't complain for not being in style!!! You can interpret same feelings with a different style, just that. And he does well, in general.
But ... I think that this is not the reason this CD is very special. In fact, it is the instrumental support that makes the difference. True tango players and what matters most, great arrangements. With this support, the already great songs are truly greater!! At last there is an opportunity to appretiate the songs as compositions and differentiate the composer from
the singer.
Yes, Gardel has no match in terms of vocal means. But Gardel never had musicians and arrangers of this quality, and he did not even dream of the kind of sound quality of this CD. please, even if you have all gardel discography, don't miss this. Truly a revelation. And if you still have listened to his voice, are interested in this modern and still faithfull approach and are short of space or money, in the end you can listen to him in "Mi Buenos Aires querido" sang as a duo with Alvarez.
Gardel sang better, but this CD shows his music is better played nowadays than in his lifetime.

Marcel Alvarez voice is just perfect for the tango songs he selected. Buy it an enjoy once more the old tango music.