Make sure you have your handkerchief ready before you enter the ronda for this one: it's heart-break time.
Latter-days Ángel Vargas is one of obsessions I developed in 2019, and this tanda comes from the years of his partnership with Eduardo Del Piano. If my reading of his bio is correct, Del Piano made many arrangements for D'Agostino's orchestra, and so I'm finding their collaboration to have been an organic offshoot of what the two Ángels did together.
Why I built it this way
Tanto has the strongest, most urgent lyrical charge, and I use it as a closer on other occasions.
In this tanda, however, I wanted to also include Adiós, Arolas, and I can only imagine that as a closer. So there.
Perdón viejita comes second, and is very serious and dark as well. It's got a bit more energy, as expressed by the underlying beat, while still offering many opportunities to rest in a melancholic embrace... if that's your thing... and I suppose it is, otherwise you'd sit this one out!
Amigazo provides a well-deserved rest, opening optimistically with major chords. As I said previously, I don't like to stack four darker themes in one tanda without any respite. This tune still has a lyrical alternating theme in A minor, so it's not all roses to be sure.
Adiós, Arolas closes the tanda with what I hope to be a place of reconciliation. It's a song composed as a remembrance to the tango composer Eduardo Arolas. As a dancer, I'd most enjoy this tune with a partner with whom I've already developed some relationship and can venture into subtle steps and details of movement.
Usage
This music paints on a large canvas with pastel colors and requires focus and musicality. I feel like I can only play it when I've captured my audience 100% and they aren't distracted by off-ronda entertainment like talking and drinking. Then they'll be rewarded.
Other times, when this is not the case, I'll throw in Pugliese with Maciel and just drown them in emotion.
It'll usually be later in the evening when they've gotten closer together emotionally and want to go on a more intricate adventure.