Alberto Ginastera - Concierto Argentino, Piano Concerto No. 1 & 2

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Alberto Ginastera - Concierto Argentino, Piano Concerto No. 1 & 2

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Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) is easily Argentina's best-known classical composer (unless you count Astor Piazzolla whose oeuvre would probably have to be considered largely 'popular'). Certainly in his lifetime he was the most celebrated composer from that country. Further, he brought to a wider public the rhythmic and melodic characteristics of the 'Argentine sound' for the foreign listener.
One of his most fervent proponents has been the American pianist Barbara Nissman whose playing is heard on this disc. The CD contains two world première recordings: the early 'Concierto Argentino' and the original version of the Second Concerto. Nissman has made at least two other recordings of Ginastera's piano and chamber music.
In 1935, when he was only nineteen and still a student, Ginastera wrote the Concierto Argentino. It was played by its dedicatee, a friend of the composer, but afterward Ginastera withdrew it. Fortunately a manuscript survived and his widow gave Nissman permission to record it. Indeed, late in his life Ginastera admitted that there was some good stuff in it and he intended to revise it for publication but didn't live to do that. The concerto is in the usual three movements and, somewhat surprisingly to anyone familiar with Ginastera's later music, contains passages that appear in his popular ballet 'Estancia', written a few year afterward. The concerto is suffused with Argentine dance rhythms, particularly that of the 'malambo', and folk-like melodies. It is perhaps a little immature but it is nonetheless a valid work and is played within an inch of its life by Nissman.
The so-called 'First Concerto' (1962) has four movements and opens, after three mysterious chords in the orchestra, with a cadenza followed by a set of variations. There are twelve-tone but nonetheless lyrical passages. The second movement is a very fast scherzo played pianissimo throughout. The third movement, Adagissimo, contains an ecstatic climax and quotes, albeit obliquely, Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto. The finale, Toccata concertato, will be familiar to those who know the version of the movement by Emerson, Lake and Palmer from their 'Brain Salad Surgery' album which had a wild popularity back in the early 1970s.
The Second Concerto (1972) was written for pianist Hilde Somer who premièred and recorded it. Ginastera had written the second movement for right hand alone but Somer rewrote it for left hand alone, changing it in the process. She also rewrote the final page of the concerto, adding more emphatic final octaves and chords. Nissman, who had access to the composer's manuscript, plays it as written by Ginastera. In four movements, like the First Concerto, the work begins with a massive set of variations, thirty-two in number, based on a chord in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (in bar 208 of the last movement, if you should want to check it out). One would not recognize this from the music itself as Ginastera takes the chord as the basis for a tone row. The second movement is a brilliant scherzo for right hand alone accompanied sometimes aggressively by the orchestra. The third movement is an Adagio whose effect is prismatic, even eerie. The Finale, which Ginastera says was inspired by the ghostly final movement of Chopin's 'Funeral March' Piano Sonata, has a dramatic fanfare-like opening which resolves into a prestissimo movement which ends abruptly.
Nissman, is of course, a master of this music and gives us everything one could want. She is accompanied by the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the admired Kenneth Kiesler. Although the orchestra may have some difficult moments at times, one is amazed at the security and maturity of its playing.
This is a major release for those of us who love Ginastera's music. Much of it is perhaps a bit modernist for those who know only, say, his Estancia, but it rewards repeated listening. Hats off for this production of the Pierian Recording Society, a non-profit label 'specializing in rare performances and rare repertoire.'

Scott Morrison @ Amazon.com