Naxos American
2007
Ginastera: Complete Piano & Organ
About This Album
For a composer like Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), whose piano works were such a significant part of his output, it's fascinating to have the opportunity to trace his development through a chronological survey of his complete music for keyboard. Ginastera destroyed most of his juvenilia, but even his Piezas infantiles, written when he was 18 (and which he withdrew from his catalog, but which are recorded here), show a sure command of form and material. His first published piano work, Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2, reveals a composer who has come into his own, with a distinctive and powerful voice. The movements are based on popular dance forms, but don't use preexisting folk material. They are bursting with rhythmic energy and harmonic abandon and display many of the characteristics of Ginastera's early nationalistic style -- rhythmically driven movements in triple time charged with momentum through the use of hemiolas and changing meters, alternating with incredibly sensual and languid slow movements. Suite de Danzas Criollas (1946) is perhaps the most striking example of his piano music from this period. It retains the vitality and languor of his earlier works, but exhibits an increasingly technical sophistication -- one of its high points is a lyrical, chromatically luscious canon in 11/8.
Track List

Disc 1

Danzas Argentinas, 3 Pieces For Piano, Op. 2
1.
2.
3.
Piezas (3), For Piano, Op. 6
4.
5.
6.
Malambo, For Piano, Op. 7
7.
American Preludes (12) For Piano, Op. 12
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
Creole Dance Suite, For Piano, Op. 15
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Rondo On Argentine Children's Songs, For Piano, Op. 19
25.
Danzas Argentinas Para Los Niños, For Piano (unfinished)
26.
27.
Piezas Infantiles, For Piano (withdrawn By The Composer)
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
Milonga, For Piano (arranged From "Canción Del Arbol Olvido" Op.2)
36.
Estancia, Ballet, Op. 8
37.
Arrangement: Domenico Zipoli's "Toccata Per Organo", For Piano
38.

Disc 2

Piano Sonata No.1, Op. 22
1.
2.
3.
4.
Piano Sonata No.2, Op. 53
5.
6.
7.
Piano Sonata No.3, Op. 54
8.
Toccata, Villancico & Fugue, For Organ, Op. 18
9.
10.
11.
Variations And Toccata On "Aurora Lucis Rutilat", For Organ, Op. 52
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.