This paper is a comparative analysis of Alejo Carpentier's last novel, El arpa y la sombra (1979), and its English translation, The Harp and the Shadow (1990), by Thomas and Carol Christensen. The issue of translation is relevant to this novel in several ways. On one hand, Carpentier, choosing Christopher Columbus as the main character, alludes to the difficulties met by the conquistadors when they tried to put the new world into words, a novel and challenging translation procedure. On the other hand, the author tries to demythologize Columbus through the use of intertexts like his diaries and the Bible, "translating" and using them in an ironic way to reveal the mechanisms through which a text can be manipulated. At the same time, the underlying musical structure (a symphony) on which Carpentier modeled his novel is also analyzed. Musicality is perceived not only at the structural level, but also in the rhythm of the prose. The aspect of sound quality should be taken into account in the translation of this novel; its analysis is the core of this paper. The aim is to review the "musical moments" that provide a framework to this novel so as to compare and contrast them with the English translation.