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Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel
Marcelo Alvarez
Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel
Genres: International Music, Pop, Classical, Latin Music
 
  •  Track Listings (13) - Disc #1

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...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Marcelo Alvarez
Title: Marcelo Alvarez Sings Gardel
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Sony
Release Date: 8/29/2000
Genres: International Music, Pop, Classical, Latin Music
Styles: Latin Music, Tango
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 074646184028, 2605000025466

Synopsis

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
 

CD Reviews

Great CD for tango and Gardel fans!
Daniel D. Kim | Vancouver, British Columbia Canada | 09/25/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."
Hermosa voz, pero fuera de estilo
katia38 | 09/05/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)

"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."
Great music, great voice-wrong fit
katia38 | usa | 04/17/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)

"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.""