A record that keeps turning: Osvaldo Fresedo's orquesta típica during the 1960’s

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the Osvaldo Fresedo’s orquesta típica during the sixties in Buenos Aires city. This study is part of a larger project about Fresedo’s career between 1920 and 1980 as a conductor and composer. Fresedo is one of the most important leading figures in the history of argentinean tango. However, his production hasn’t been addressed in a thorough way from musicology studies. My goal is to find out the validation of Fresedo’s style as a conductor during the sixties. For this article, I selected nine instrumental tangos recorded by the orchestra in this period: I analyzed eight tangos from a general perspective and one specifically to identify common elements in the different times of the orchestra and others, instead, particular to the sixties. I considered four aspects: the fragmentation of the melody, the contrapuntal textures, the accompaniment types and the fraseo.