The pianist Leda Torres transcribed and edited the piano arrangements of one of the most sophisticated composers in Argentina, thus returning practically forgotten material to the public, through a book and a disc.

Argentine musical memory, so often neglected, recovered an essential link in its history from the Argentine pianistLeda Torres who transcribed and edited the piano arrangements ofCarlos Garcia, one of the greatest tango stylists, returning a practically forgotten material to the public state.Carlos Garcia. Tangos on piano. Vol. 1 (Thousand bells) It is the title of the book that brings together those scores and gives them light in a double format — disc and book — to put one of the most sophisticated composers of Argentine music into perspective..

Garcia He was one of the greatest stylists in the history of tango —even though his name is outside of the mass broadcast spaces— and he left numerous arrangements that could only be traced in his old recordings but whichlacked written transcription. Work it tookTorres and that he managed to recover them in a book and a free access disk, that return them to the public state.

"Much progress has been made with the institutionalization of teaching. That luckily comes breaking a certain logic, extended when I started studying, that exalted the musician who appropriated more ‘inconsequential’ arrangements and the one who least shared them. That gave him a badge of being more tango. Today, Fortunately, there is another culture of exchange. This project is part of that transformation ”, the pianist reflected in dialogue withTelam.

The book recovers arrangements of the pianist of the Roberto Firpo's Typical Orchestra and director of the Tango Orchestra of the City of Buenos Aires together with Raul Garello: "Galleguita", "Black eyes", “Viviani”, "Pink color", "Dreams", "Crazy bohemia" and "Patotero sentimental", among so many stylistic findings consecrated by García.

"I startedmotivated by the deep admiration for Carlos García that was contrasted with the impossibility of obtaining his scores“, the pianist pointed out and assured that “the initial idea was not to make a comprehensive publication, but as I shared the transcripts I understood that the project should have a greater scope. The reason for the album and the book is that these works are available to whoever needs them ”.

At the same time, the pianist and arranger thought that García, "Perhaps he was a character who kept a lower profile if you think about it in relation to other musicians. Or that the lack of mass recognition is related to the fact thatGarcía dedicated a large part of his career to the trade of arranger and that many times the name of this fundamental character did not even appear in the publications”.

The arduous task of recovering the old scores was completed with the sound record of those works, made in theKirchner Cultural Center by Torres herself, accompanied by a collective of musicians that included Diego Schissi, Marina Ruiz, Hernan possett, Paula Suarez, Hernán Gallegos, Juan Manuel Santisteban, Pablo Fraguela, Yazmina Rays, Shino Ohnaga, Adrián Enríquez and the violinist Ramiro Gallo.

In this work, Torres —who owns both an academic and popular background and one of the most prominent pianists on the contemporary tango scene— shares various proposals, among which is the duo that forms with Paula Suárez, piano four hands. further, is dedicated to transcribing the works of the orchestras and great pianists of the 20th century and this book is a first sample of this enormous task.

The promoter of the project is from Lobería, Buenos Aires province, and one of the most important pianists on the contemporary tango scene, where he shares various projects, among them, the duo “Suarez & Torres”, an unavoidable reference for the most elegant current of that movement. The album is available, for free, on all digital platforms and scores may be required by email musicians and students[email protected].

Source: Infobae – 10 from December to 2019