Alberto Ginastera - Complete Piano Chamber Music, Vol. 1 (Alberto Portugheis)

Information

Composer: Alberto Ginastera

• (01) Danzas argentinas, Op. 2
• (04) Pequeña danza (from Estancia, Op. 8)
• (05) 12 American Preludes, Op. 12
• (17) Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22
• (21) Pampeana No. 2, Op. 21 (Rhapsody for Cello & Piano)
• (22) Argentinian Popular Songs, Op. 10: No. 2, Triste (transcr. Pierre Fournier)
• (23) Sonata for Cello & Piano, Op. 49

Alberto Portugheis, piano

Aurora Natola-Ginastera, cello (21-26)

Date: 1993

Label: ASV

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Review

Few composers have had the good fortune to be married to a performer of world class who has become a leading exponent of their music. Messiaen was one of that rare company: so was Ginastera, whose two cello concertos and fantastically difficult cello sonata were written for his wife Aurora Natola, whom he had first met in 1950 when the young virtuoso had won a Buenos Aires award playing his Pampeana No. 2. That is a rhapsodic showpiece with several solo cadenzas (beautifully shaped here), and features strongly rhythmic ostinatos of nationalist colouring: similar violently accented repetitive rhythms characterize most of the earlier works for piano here—many of the miniature American Preludes, the wild little dance transcribed from the ballet Estancia, the first and third of the Danzas argentinas—along with polytonality, block chords of piled-up fourths and tone-clusters. Alberto Portugheis is brilliantly fiery in all of these, but equally he brings seductive nuances to the languid second Argentine dance, a sensitivity matched by Natola in the affecting short Triste (a song transcription).

The principal works on this disc are the two sonatas. That for piano (1952) shows some stylistic development in its ghostly flitting scherzo and desolate Adagio (both of which toy with dodecaphony). The work has already established itself in the repertoire—there have been previous recordings—and Portugheis's reading is suitably intense and, where required, ferociously rhythmic: I would mildly question only a few Luftpausen at the ends of bars in passages widely extended over the keyboard. He has a splendid duo partner in the much later (1979) and exceptionally demanding Cello Sonata the most remarkable movement of which is the palindromic Presto, full of bizarre effects that seem to reflect Ginastera's enthusiasm for the paintings of Paul Klee. Outstandingly good recorded quality.'

-- Lionel Salter, Gramophone

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Alberto Ginastera (April 11, 1916 – June 25, 1983) was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Many of Ginastera's works were inspired by the Gauchesco tradition. His early nationalistic works often integrate Argentine folk themes, while works in the later periods incorporate traditional elements in increasingly abstracted forms. Ginastera held a number of teaching posts. Among his notable students were Ástor Piazzolla (who studied with him in 1941), Alcides Lanza, Waldo de los Ríos, Jacqueline Nova and Rafael Aponte-Ledée.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Ginastera

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Alberto Portugheis (born on January 1, 1941, in La Plata, Argentina) is an Argentine pianist. He studied with Vincenzo Scaramuzza (the teacher of Martha Argerich and Bruno Leonardo Gelber), before going on to the Geneva Conservatoire. After winning first prize at the Geneva Concours de Virtuosité, Portugheis embarked on an international career, visiting almost 50 countries across the world. His recordings include masterpieces from a repertoire ranging from the Baroque to contemporary. Portugheis’ annual Masterclasses at Steinway Hall attract a wealth of talent from many countries in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Portugheis

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