Jorge Finkielman
discusses never before published releases
of Carlos Gardel by EMI/ODEON in 2000 & 2001.
Original article reprinted by permission from Jorge Finkielman on Aug. 24, 2002
Good morning:
I have a curiosity related to Carlos Gardel. The singer left an amount of more than 700 recordings which were published on disks. But if you count the exact number of his registers (and I am doing this with his discography in my hands) he exactly left 1531 recordings.
Thanks to private collectors, I have a lot of those rare versions in cassettes which I will have to classify one day (!).
While working for Max Glücksmann Gardel could make 5 takes for a song and finally choose the one he liked best. When Glücksmann adopted the electric recording system technologies, Gardel had destroyed his first 10 recordings with the new system going back to the accoustic system for 6 more, and then definitively moving to the electric system.
EMI had published some of those versions in hard to find LP's.
In 2000 EMI sent to the Abbey Road studios a series of unpublished master disks of Gardel (Max Glücksmann, and then private collectors did a good job) to their Abbey Road Studios in London in order to publish "Gardel Inédito" which I have. (They could have done it right here without wasting time or money, and even achieving much better results.)
Then, less than a year ago, EMI published "Gardel Inédito II" which more examples of unpublished songs.
As it use to happens, the ones who make this disks never provide the necessary information considering the material they are making available.
For instance: this CD features a second take of "Milonga Sentimental". This milonga was originally recorded on January 23, 1933, and the master disk number is 7329 while it was published on the 18874 disk. The second take, the one Gardel rejected and EMI put in their CD (which was recorded at that same day), is the master disk 7329-1.
Well. The only information EMI bothers to provide is that the songs of the CD have been remastered on April, 2001, at the Abbey Road Studios.
So we are dealing with idiots. The important information, of use for scholars and collectors have been deliverately omitted!
The question, then, I want to ask is the following:
EMI include two songs: "Quiéreme" and "Recuerdo malevo" written by Gardel and Alfredo Le Pera. The first song was never recorded on disk by the singer.
If anyone of you manage to have this CD must know that those songs do not come from EMI material. It comes from elements that belong (or belonged) to Paramount Pictures.
Why?
The songs were lifted from the soundtrack of LA CASA ES SERIA, a Paramount two reeler Gardel made with Imperio Argentina in 1933 at Joinville.
Since this film is lost (except it's soundtrack that circulates, in complete form, among collectors) and somebody must have copyrights for this stuff, I want to know how EMI did published those songs at all?
The information related to those versions is that in "Quiéreme" (EMI forgot to mention that the third author of this song is Marcel Lattés) the orchestra is Don Aspiazú's while in "Recuerdo malevo" the orchestra is Juan Cruz Mateo's.
As I said, "Quiéreme" was not recorded in disks by Gardel. "Recuerdo malevo", however, was. The main difference is that he did it with guitars instead of an orchestra.
I prefer the version he did for Paramount.
Since I have those CD's if anyone needs to listen something, just let me know.
Let's hope EMI publishes "Gardel Inédito III" and RCA Victor (or EMI since both companies share the masters in this occasion) finally publishes his "unidentified theme", master disk BVE.89234-1, recorded on March 20, 1935, which everybody who knows about the Zorzal, firmly believe that it has to be the english language version of "Apure, delantero buey".
Saludos desde Peludópolis
JORGE FINKIELMAN
Another of Jorge Finkielman's articles:
THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 (Paramount, 1936)
See my page: Gardel inédito - Emi Odeón 1999 & 2001
Last update: November 06, 2004