One year
later, the Sexteto Cristal is out with their second album, Loca de amor, again
with Guillermo Rozenthuler as a pleasantly restrained guest singer. Their
approach is similar: Attract the audience with beautiful nostalgic tango
music which reminds us that the ‘Golden Age’ of tango is gone, but that we
long with our hearts back to a time that was never ours.
Maja
Hunziker and Rupert Dintinger (violins), Christian Gerber and Michael Dolak
(bandoneons), Anna-Maria Huhn (double bass) and Fernando Bruguera (piano) convince
with 14 passionate and dynamic interpretations of songs which are not the
ever-same evergreens; nevertheless, they are very pleasant,have fine melodies
and a clear beat which is easy to follow. Their four valses are mostly simple
but effective, and their interpretation of three milongas and seven tangos is lively and suited to please contemporary listeners´
expectations. Their arrangements refer to the primary tango
orchestras, and often Rupert Dintinger has transcribed the melodic phrases directly
from original recordings to adapt them for the sextet. As an active dancer by
himself, the violinist underlines that danceability
is a very important
criterion.
The milonga “La vida es
una milonga” (by Fernando Montoni & Rodolfo Sciammarella) could easily be
compared with the version of the Orquesta tipica Pedro Laurenz with their
singer Martín Podestá. The 1941 version is a bit faster and more ‘rolling’, and
Martín Podestá difficult to compare with Guillermo Rozenthuler anyway; nevertheless,
the 2019 version has its own beauty. Compared to Lucio Demare´s version of “No
te apures Carablanca” (by Roberto Harza & Carlos Bahr) Sexteto Cristal´s
version is more relaxed and maybe a bit more passionate in their melodic
arches; however, this is difficult to judge and probably a matter of taste.
Here I like more the warm and sensitive interpretation of Guillermo Rozenthuler
rather than that of Juan Carlos Miranda. Some of these direct comparisons make
it clear that the Sexteto Cristal is doing quite a good job to catch the
‘magic’ of the old tango orchestras. In fact, that´s what makes the Sexteto Cristal special and worth it.
Artist´s
website: www.tangocristal.net