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Does anyone have a recording (MP3 or MIDI) of the Ginastera Sonata no.1, particularly the first movement? I've decided to play it for an exam next year but I haven't an idea of what it sounds like.

Anyone have any experience with the piece, or which movement you recommend I play? Thanks.

Play the first movement. Best recording I know of is Santiago Rodriguez, but I don't own it.

I would love to play that piece, but the last movement scares me. I don't think I could ever play octaves that fast.

Thanks. Does anyone have a recording? How about of the Three Argentine Dances by Ginastera?

How come you've decided to play a piece that you've never heard?? why don't you listen first and decide after?

I played the second movement of Dances Argentinas for my exams a couple of years back, and loved it. If you want something really sexy, this is it. My (then) teacher gave me some romantic images to play to and that helped. You have to dig deep into those romantic feelings to play this. Some unusual sounding dissonant chords in the middle of the piece, but once you get it, its gorgeous. The first movement has interesting rhythms and accents where you don't normally expect it, so it's harder rhythmically. 3rd movemet is one of those unfinished pieces I never completed....

Have fun with it!

Kwok

I've learned this sonata over the past year, and have avoided listening to a recording of it because--well, dammit--just because I've talked myself into believing that no one can possibly play the first, second and fourth movements anywhere near as fast as Ginastera has suggested, (he suggests metronome markings that aren't even on the metronome they're so fast), and I don't want to be proved wrong. It would just really upset me.

I would really like to find a biography of Ginastera in English. Does anyone know of one?

Having been involved with this piece for some time now, you might be interested in what I think about it and about Ginastera.

Ginastera is correctly thought of as a nationalistic composer. But unlike other nationalistic composers--composers like Dvorak, Smetana, or Grieg, who got their inspiration and motifs from folk melodies, or a composer like Janacek, who got his inspiration and idioms from the melodies and rhythms of the spoken language--Ginastera seems to be picking up on the agrarian sounds of the Pampas, and mixing them up with what I call the psychic sounds of silence. I don't hear city rhythms or hints of the tango in this music, as I had expected to. These are rural sounds. This music is about the sounds of the agrarian landscape.

I think Ginastera works like Franco Leoni, the Italian film director. In "Once Upon a Time in the West," Leoni picks up on a sound that suggests the lonely landscape of the American west. It is the squeaking sound of a windmill that has not been oiled, and it becomes a highly suggestive motif that is used throughout the movie. I think Ginastera picks up on things like that.

The cross rhythms, hemiolas and syncopations, for example, remind me of hard, heavy farm work, and broken down farm machinery, like a tractor with an engine that is backfiring; or running on a flat tire; or the syncopated rhythm of pounding on a fence post, or digging in the ground. But it's a joyous kind of hard work. There is something very celebratory about it. This seems especially true in the first movement.

Interspersed with this are moments of a kind of hallucination, but not a drug induced hallucination. Have you ever worked really hard outside in the sun on a hot day, doing something that makes a deafening noise, like driving a tractor without a muffler? You might become a little dehydrated too. And then, when the noise stops suddenly, like when you turn off the engine, there is a minute or two of disorientation. The silence seems profound, and then you begin to hear sounds inside your head: sounds that are not emanating from anything. These are what I call the psychic sounds of silence. He's listening inside his head. They're interspersed throughout the piece, but the third movement really focuses on this.

It could be though, that I'm completely wrong on this, as I have no idea what I'm talking about. There's little available on Ginastera in English. This is just my reaction to the music itself.

I hope it's interesting.

Tomasino

I think the first movement is not too difficult, and probably the likely candidate for you. It's lots of fun, but be prepared to jump around the keyboard. Very quickly. The whole Sonata is rather ... 'athletic'.

The Presto is treacherous. I'm comfortable playing it at MY tempo, but that isn't exactly Ginastera's suggested tempo. :rolleyes: I find most patterns easy to play, but I find the transition points (to a different kind of pattern) the pulse/tempo becomes difficult to maintain.

The Adagio seems easy, but it takes a lot of panache to pull it off. It was the only movement that didn't "want" to be memorized!

The last movement is slightly more difficult than the first. It seems like it might just go fairly nicely, but then he starts hammering away with block chords and octaves. It is rather punishing from a physical standpoint. But... another fun movement, perhaps moreso than the first movement. I LOVE playing the very end!

I have a recording, but it is not here at the moment - I don't recall who recorded it. For some reason, I never listen to it. I'm like Tomasino - I want to play it the way I hear it!

Yeah, the Ginastera is a very complex piece, I would definitely buy a score and go through it, before you make any concrete decisions...

As an aside, his ballet Panambí (written when he was only 24) is one of my favourite pieces of 20th century music, with some marvellous themes, rhythms and orchestration. The influence of Stravinsky and Bartók is evident, all wrapped up in a Latin American way. Kind of a Rite of Spring... with llamas!

- Michael B.

Quoting Tomasino: I would really like to find a biography of Ginastera in English. Does anyone know of one?

The closest I found is a dissertation on Amazon.com for $55

Alberto Ginastera: An examination of objective nationalism and the 'Danzas Argentinas' : (Dissertation) [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (Digital)

I'm sure you did a search and found similar items. Didn't find any biographies in English, not even from Stanford Univ. Music Lib., a library close by which normally carries a pretty good selection of everything.

My daughter performed 1st movement last November and is currently working on polishing 2nd movement. It is more difficult than it sounds. She is working on the evenness of the sound. Her teacher did indicate that the slow movement is a killer. We have Santiago Rodriguez's recording per her teacher's recommendation. (I will double check when I get home). I also burned a CD from a MD recording that her teacher's husband owns which also includes Argintine Dances. I have no idea who the pianist is. I will ask the next time I see her or him.

My teacher did her doctoral dissertaion on Ginastera, but I've never really taken up a conversation with her about him--mostly because I'm not that familiar with his works beyond the Danzes Argentinas.

The slow movement is not difficult in terms of notes, but it takes intense concentration, and an authoritative performance demeanor to pull it off. It's very still. Very intense. Very concentrated.

Tomasino

The slow movement is not difficult in terms of notes, but it takes intense concentration, and an authoritative performance demeanor to pull it off. It's very still. Very intense. Very concentrated.

Tomasino

oops. sorry. Tomasino

Thanks everyone for your input.

I got the recording of the first sonata along with the second sonata and the argetinian dances and some other pieces played by Rodriguez from my teacher. I think I will do the third Argentinian dance.

virtuoso,
For a nice recording of piano music and some cello-piano music is from Alrberto Portugheis (piano) and Aurora Natola Ginastera (cello). ASV digital (CD DCA 865): Ginastera: the complete piano music and chamber music with piano, vol 1. 1993.

whippen boy:
tomasino:
Is there an echo in here?

Is there a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound, occurring in this locale?

Barbara Nissman has the best recording.