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CONCIERTO ARGENTINO
In 1935 at the age of nineteen while still a student a Conservatory, Alberto Ginastera composed the
Concierto Argentino
and dedicated it to his good friend, the pianist Hugh Balzo. Balzo premiered the concerto and then the composer withdrew the work from publication.
Barbara Nissman discovered the manuscript at the Fleisher Manuscript
Collection in Philadelphia. In the 1940’s, Nicolas Slonimsky had traveled to
South America in search of Latin American music. His trip was sponsored
by the WPA, and that is how the parts landed in the Fleisher Manuscript
Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Later in his life, Ginastera
reviewed the manuscript and told his wife that he was planning to revise
the work. Unfortunately, he died before his intentions were realized.
Written six years before his popular ballet
Estancia
appeared in 1941, Ginastera introduces in the middle movement and also in the finale of this three-movement concerto, two of its popular themes, both played by the orchestra. Always a recycler, the composer gives us a taste of what lies ahead in
Estancia
. All of the elements of Ginastera’s early style heard in
Panambi,
Op.1;
Three Argentine Danzas
, Op. 2;
Suite des Danzas
Criollas
, Op. 15 etc., are already hinted at in this accessible work: the rhythmic and driving energy, the Latin dance tunes, the sentimental romantic melodies, and sheer pianistic bravura for its own sake.
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The first movement includes a cadenza whose piano writing could have been inspired by some of the right-hand passage-work in the cadenza of Prokofiev’s
Second Piano Concerto
. The second movement is a beautiful and languid dance, including an introduction, reminiscent of Gershwin’s opening to his
Rhapsody in Blue
. The third movement, an
Allegro rustico
is signature Ginastera. This is music of the
pampas
, the Argentine countryside, and Ginastera conveys the passion of the people who sing the folk tunes and who dance the virile, extroverted
malambo
. There is an energy and force within the music, driving it right towards the final note of this youthful, joyful and exciting composition.
Even though this is a somewhat naïve work of Ginastera’s
youth, the
Concierto Argentino
has a definite appeal and
foretells what will follow. Seen in the historical context of
Ginastera’s music, his early style planted the necessary
seeds that would be developed into his later more
sophisticated language. Ginastera always possessed the
natural gift of creating magic within his sound canvases,
and even in this young student composition, Ginastera
transports the listener to another world- to a magical place.
Aaron Copland with Ginastera