Horacio Salgán : Modern Tango Giant
On Saturday, August 20, the National Academy of
Tango of Argentina, announced the death of one of
the most respected greats of the tango, pianist Horacio Adolfo Salgán, who had just celebratedhis 100th
birthday.
Everything I did was something that I thought
was the most important thing to do It was about
seventy-five years of very hard work,
— Horacio Salgán
Salgán was born in Buenos Aires on June 15, 1916.
He began piano studies at age 6 and later distinI have known him for many years, and I admire
guished himself in a local classical conservatory, finhim with deep affection. For me, he is a great
ishing the conservatory at the age of thirteen to
figure. I am no expert. But if you ask me, I would
begin a career as a pianist on radio. His professional
say that the three most important historical figbreakthrough came when he was twenty and a piaures are Carlos Gardel, Astor Piazzolla and
nist with a group led by conductor Roberto Firpo.
Horacio Salgán
— Daniel Barenboim, composer He later served as a musician and arranger for a
succession of prominent tango orchestras, includhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2S9lI4W4lI ing one headed by the bandleader Miguel Caló.
His tango arrangements were admired by musicians
like Astor Piazzolla and the tango world was soon
Barenboim is right. Salgán was one of the keys to
to recognize him as one of the modern masters
tango figures, in the holy tango trinity of Gardel,
among classics. By 1970, he played at the Lincoln
Piazzola and Salgán. His work as pianist, arCenter in New York and two years later at a gala at
ranger and composer shines through naturally. It
the Teatro Colon in Germany.
has indelibly marked the tango of the twentieth
century and peered into the twenty-first century
My ambition, as it was when I was when I was
with an original strength and advanced sound,
a child and until today, has been to learn to play
from its original formation with Ubaldo de Lio,
the piano best.
to his orchestra with the vocals of Edmundo
— Horacio Salgán
Rivero and the formation of Quinteto Real.
— Gabriel Plaza
More than a decade has past since the pianist
retired from the stage. His artistic legacy, lives on
in the Quinteto Real, which his son Cesare
Salgán continues, documented in the film Salgán & Salgán
— Caroline Neal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dg9wPshpZc
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