Michael, the vals A tu memoria madrecita is variously listed as by the OTV, Ciriaco Ortiz, and the Orquesta Típica Los Provincianos. What’s the truth? I think Ciriaco Ortiz directed the Victor orchestra at one time. It sounds like OTV to me.
Well, this can be a confusing area! Let’s see if we can clear this up…
The Orquesta Típica Victor (OTV for short) was the house orchestra of the Victor company. It was popular and successful, making 449 recordings under this name.
The orchestra was assembled by Adolfo Carabelli in 1925 but he didn’t direct it at first – this task was given to Luis Petrucelli, possibly because Carabelli, although an excellent musician, was mainly playing jazz at this time. Petrucelli travelled to the USA in 1926 to play bandoneón for Canaro, and then Carabelli became director as well.
The orchestra ground to a halt in 1935, making only two recordings. Victor then give the baton to the bandoneonista Federico Scorticati, who remains in charge until the orchestra makes what seems to be its final recordings in 1941. By this time, tango orchestras are everywhere and the need for a house orchestra has all but vanished. Nevertheless, the orchestra has a final flourish – 18 tracks recorded in 1943-1944, for which the group is directed by the pianist Mario Maurano.
From its earliest days, the orchestra recorded under different names for marketing reasons. Their 7th disc has La cumparsita – on the B side – whilst the A side is a pasodoble recorded by the Orquesta Internacional Victor, internacional being a reference to non-Argentine music. This pairing was not at all unusual at the time: the 78s of Julio De Caro’s first recordings in 1924 were shared with Osvaldo Fresedo. (In case you’re wondering, Fresedo got the B side). But even sticking just with the tangos, the OTV appears under many different names: Orquesta Típica Porteña, Orquesta Radio Victor Argentina (for radio broadcasts), Orquesta Victor Popular and Victor de Salón, not to mention the recordings it made backing Victor’s soloists, such as Alberto Gómez and Mercedes Simone, on which it is not credited.
Beginning in 1931, 
Ciriaco Ortiz, a member of the orchestra since the beginning, made 34 recordings with the Victor house orchestra under the name Orquesta Típica Los Provincianos, mostly in the years 1931-1934. Now, Ciriaco Ortiz was never the director of the OTV. At this time, Carabelli was still the director and the orchestra was recording prolifically under its own name. Here’s the 64,000 Euro question: does it sound like the OTV? Well, yes it does, but comparing their recordings to those from the OTV from the same years, something interesting emerges: the recordings of Los Provincianos are often more sophisticated musically. If you like: they are better. I like to think that Ciriaco Ortiz forces Carabelli to raise his game.
A case in point is the arrangement of El distinguido cuidadano: sheer genius, years ahead of its time. Quite near the beginning is a long unaccompanied bandoneón variation, and when the orchestra returns the violin – none other than Elvino Vardaro – steals the show, at one point playing in essence only with the accompaniment of the double bass (although the texture is thickened by the rest of the orchestra). Vardaro must have been thrilled to play such an arrangement: the only thing remotely like it was the music of the mythical Vardaro-Pugliese sextet, which was considered uncommerical by the record companies and broke up without making any studio recordings. Even today, this is a track you would have to DJ in the right circumstances.
As for A tu memoria, madrecita – it’s lovely. You can hear it on Colección 78 RPM 2: Ciriaco Ortiz 1931-1955, along with two other fine waltzes, Volvio la princesita and Un placer. But yes you could play this alongside some well-chosen OTV valses from the same years. Which ones? I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader :-)
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, why haven’t I told you about this new Enrique Rodríguez album on Magenta, which has 26 tracks and a budget price? You want me to tell you? Okay I’ll tell you.
Yes I know it’s a terrible cover, but read on.
Another year, another compilation of tango’s bad boy, Astor Piazzolla.
Remember the French label EPM? Okay you don’t, but you should because back in the 1990s they produced a number of interesting tango CDs, including the best 
Alberto Echagüe, D’Arienzo’s best singer, had three stints with the orchestra of which the best was undoubtedly the first (1938-1939). Bizarrely, and perhaps betraying a certain prejudice, most of these early sides have never been reprinted by EMI. Here we have to rely on this wonderful release from the small Argentine label