TS 1.25 - Pugliese Instrumental 1960-62

Tags: Osvaldo Pugliese, Intrumental

Category: Album

Samples

Release Note Producer's Note Full Track Info

“At the peak of his artistic achievement, Pugliese’s instrumental works from the transitional period between the 1950s and 1960s.” — TangoSparks, 2026

Pugliese finally stepped into the 1960s. After touring two communist countries in the old world and making a brief adjustment upon returning home, the orquesta started recording again with cellist Adrián Fanelli's departure. This left the Pugliese orquesta without a cellist during 1960–61, resulting in a relatively “lighter” sonic texture.

The six instrumental titles from this period include the exuberant A Los Amigos; the inventive Malambaeo, which incorporates elements of malambo; the first recording of Arrabal; Nonino, Piazzolla’s homage to his father; Salgán’s Don Agustín Bardi; and Osvaldo Ruggiero’s masterpiece Festejando.

By 1962, with the arrival of the new cellist Enrique Lannoo, the orquesta returned to the same instrumentation it had at the end of the 1950s. The five works from 1962 are Cabulero; Pugliese’s intimate Cardo y Malvón; Bordoneo y 900, a particularly distinctive piece that portrays the transformation of the old, slow milonga campera into the milonga ciudadana of Buenos Aires; Julián Plaza’s Nostálgico; and the classic tango Inspiración.

This album, TS 1.25, captures Pugliese at a moment of profound social change and shifting musical currents. It also reveals the first signs of his move into new artistic territories after reaching the summit of his expressive language in the 1950s. Existing commercial releases of these instrumental works suffer from uneven sound quality. This album brings them together in consistently excellent audio fidelity and is not to be missed.

Pugliese's instrumental works from this period were recorded under three different labels: longtime home Odeon, his own independent label Stentor, and his new partner Philips. Comparing the recording characteristics of these three labels is particularly interesting. This is evident when comparing the two versions of Malambaeo and Nonino recorded at Stentor and Philips respectively: in contrast to Philips’ distant microphone placement and large reverberant spaces, Stentor’s close-miking provides a more archaic and intimate sound.

By this time, Philips had already mastered magnetic tape editing techniques. At approximately 0:31 in Cabulero, a clear tape-editing error can be heard, which regrettably cannot be repaired.

This was also the transitional era from mono to stereo recording. Although Odeon only began large-scale stereo production in 1961, its earliest experiments can be traced back to 1959 with Francisco Canaro. In theory, a stereo source may still exist for Pugliese’s A Los Amigos (1960). As for Philips, its earliest stereo recordings date from 1961; in this album, the latest track, Inspiración (November 1962), exists in both mono and stereo versions. The source used here is the original mono mix, which offers superior sonic results compared with the stereo fold-down.

In short, TS 1.25 is an instrumental album rich in historical significance and shaped by a major transformation in recording technology. Through meticulous restoration, we have brought these sources to their fullest potential. We look forward to hearing them shine both on the dance floor and on high-quality sound systems.

Frank Jin

Date	Track	Genre	Singer	Label	Pitch	Length
1960-07-15	A Los Amigos	Tango	Instrumental	Odeón	442	03:03
1960-10-20	Malambao	Tango	Instrumental	Stentor	442	04:02
1960-11-10	Arrabal	Tango	Instrumental	Stentor	442	03:12
1960-11-29	Nonino	Tango	Instrumental	Stentor	442	03:21
1961-06	Malambaeo	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	04:07
1961-07	Nonino	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:26
1961-08	Don Agustín Bardi	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:39
1961-12	Festejando	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:00
1962-04	Cabulero	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:10
1962-06	Cardo y Malvón	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:39
1962-07	Nostálgico	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:48
1962-08	Bordoneo y 900	Milonga	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:04
1962-12	Inspiración	Tango	Instrumental	Philips	442	03:19