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Discography
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Alberto Ginastera
- Panambí - Ballet - World Premiere Recording
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London Orchestra captures Ginastera's Argentine
Soul
San Francisco Chronicle
There is a scene called "Dawn" in the ballet "Estancia"
where the sheer splendor of the orchestration weaves
myriad strands of music, from echoes of Stravinsky and
Falla to foreshadowings of Copland, into a single rich
fabric that is uniquely Alberto Ginastera's. And so
with much of this 1941 score by the Argentine master,
as well as with his 1937 "Panambi."
The neglect of Ginastera's music is shameful, because
here is truly a composer whose works are at once accessible
and strikingly original. His music is inextricably tied
to the soul of Argentina but also - like Lecuona's Afrocuban
dances or Mompou's exquisite Catalan songs - is international
in its appeal. Though sections of "Estancia" point to
the later expressionist austerities of Ginastera's opera
"Bomarzo" (itself a fine candidate for CD release, from
its long-out-of-print CBS recording), the composer's
work of this period is a south-of-the-border close cousin
to Copland's sound impression of the American West.
The weaving of voices into the orchestral textures is
as eerie as it is masterly.
Gisèle Ben-Dor, a brilliant young conductor with a
real sense for the rhythmic life of this score, makes
the London Symphony Orchestra seem very much at home
in the pampas. This is a highly recommended, unusual
and immensely enjoyable recording.
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