These CDs feature the music of two distinguished Argentine composers from the twentieth century. Alberto Ginastera (1916–83) was internationally known as one of the most original creative voices of the Americas, and is remembered for his ballets, piano music, string quartets, and operas. Astor Piazzolla (1921–92) is acknowledged worldwide as the creator of the nuevo tango (new tango) and as the composer of a compelling body of concert music. Over the past decade, the Naxos label has fostered awareness of these two composers’ music by releasing CDs of their lesser-known works and by issuing new arrangements of their original compositions. These two recordings contribute to the Naxos endeavor, although with different approaches and varying degrees of success.
The first recording consists of Ginastera's two cello concertos. The composer created the earliest of these works in 1968, during a troubled period of his life that was marked by the Argentine censorship of his second opera, Bomarzo (1966–67) and by the strong interpersonal conflicts that led him to separate from his first wife, Mercedes de Toro. Despite these struggles, the First Cello Concerto stands as a testament to Ginastera's artistic achievement. It is an angular dodecaphonic and occasionally microtonal work that reflects his experimental orientation of the period.
The first movement, Adagio molto appassionato, utilizes a twelve-tone row that serves as the basis for a dialogue between the cello and the orchestra. Ginastera privileges the soloist with lyric lines, accompanied by a kaleidoscopic array of orchestral textures and densities. The second movement, Presto sfumato—Trio notturnale, is an evanescent three-part scherzo that explores a wide spectrum of timbral possibilities. During the scherzo sections, the soloist unfolds a twenty-four-note microtonal scale in perpetual motion, along with special effects and extended techniques. The trio is scored for only three instruments (harp, French horn, and cello), yet Ginastera maintains the dramatic intensity by quoting from the poignant opening scene of Bomarzo, in which his humpbacked protagonist decries his tortured existence after hearing the song of an innocent young shepherd boy. The final movement, Assai mosso ed esaltato—Largo amoroso, has a remarkable ending in which the cello ascends five octaves to a C7, which it sustains for fourteen measures above the orchestra. The cello then arrives at a fermata marked larghissimo before fading into silence.
Ginastera completed his Second Cello Concerto in 1981, under far happier circumstances. A decade earlier, he had remarried—this time to an accomplished concert cellist, Aurora Nátola. Ginastera created fresh cello pieces for Nátola, which she performed throughout the world. He fashioned his Second Cello Concerto as a tenth anniversary gift for her. In this work, Ginastera cultivates a lyric post-tonal style that relaxes the intense dissonances of his First Cello Concerto. The concerto reworks music from his preceding Cello Sonata (1979) and adds an entirely new first movement.
Ginastera inscribes each section of the piece with an epigraph that evokes its formal and expressive character. The opening movement, Metamorfosi di un tema, is based on the words of Auguste Martin: “Aurora, I come to you with this song born of the mist.” Entwined within the delicate orchestral fabric lies the tender cello melody from the Andante of Brahms's Second Piano Concerto. The second movement, Scherzo sfuggevole, based on a text by the Spanish poet, Luis Cernuda (1902–63), is an ephemeral scherzo that employs a Bartókian arch scheme, in which the music turns upon itself in retrograde after arriving at the climax of the movement. The following Nottilucente, inspired by the words of Guillaume Apollinaire, is a profoundly personal utterance that draws upon diverse sonic sources such as the cry of the Puerto Rican coquí frog and César Franck's Violin Sonata. Here, Ginastera also references passages from his own music, including the closing bars of his First Cello Concerto. The final movement, Cadenza e finale rustico, draws upon Pablo Neruda's poetry to evoke a local fiesta. In this movement, Ginastera stylizes vivid rhythms from the traditional Argentine dance, the karnavalito, and emulates a style of indigenous singing that ornaments the main notes of a melody with expressive glissandos and portamentos.
It takes an extraordinary musician to perform Ginastera's cello concertos successfully. Both pieces have daunting technical difficulties. They favor wide leaps and registral extremes and utilize extended techniques that include microtones, harmonics, sul ponticello, and bowing on the wrong side of the bridge. Cellists must understand how to interpret Ginastera's expressive nuances, yet also have an impeccable sense of timing.
To date, only two cellists have recorded this repertoire professionally. Nátola first issued a 1994 CD of the concertos in collaboration with the conductor Max Bragado Darman leading the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León.Footnote 1 This compact disc presents an authoritative reading of the music that benefited from her daily collaboration with the composer. Yet, this recording, which dates from late in her concert career, is marred by sporadic technical flaws that do not reflect her playing at its best. The current Naxos release, featuring soloist Mark Kosower, is a technically pristine recording and a fine addition to the Ginastera library. Kosower, Principal Cellist for the Cleveland Orchestra, performs with such agility that he makes the most demanding Ginastera passages sound easy. Lothar Zagrosek, conducting the Bamberg Orchestra, expertly negotiates the rhythmic intricacies and virtuosic challenges of the works. Extensive liner notes by Susan Wingrove offer an informative introduction to Ginastera's music.
The second recording, Tangos for Violin, Brass Quintet, and Percussion, consists of fifteen pieces by Astor Piazzolla, performed by the Tuscan Wind and Percussion Quintet and arranged by the group's trumpet player, Donato De Sena. Many of Piazzolla's compositions on this CD (“Violentango,” “Amelitango,” “Tristango,” “Novitango,” “Meditango,” and “Libertango”) date from 1974–75, when the Argentine composer lived in Italy. Piazzolla created these works when his agent, Aldo Pagani asked him to produce a series of three-minute pieces to play on the radio. Later, he compiled this music onto the album titled, Libertango (1974). This recording used a crossover approach to appeal to European audiences. Instead of limiting himself to a small nuevo tango ensemble, Piazzolla expanded the group to encompass a concert orchestra that featured solo flute and percussion, in addition to the standard tango instruments. This novel approach made Libertango a valuable model for De Sena's classically oriented CD.
The disc also features Las cuatro estaciones porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires). These four compositions use a nuevo tango style, with light inflections of Baroque music. After Piazzolla's death, the Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov re-scored these works for solo violin and string orchestra in new hybridized arrangements that quoted extensively from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. In fashioning his own version of the works, De Sena drew significantly upon Desyatnikov's classical conception, although neither he nor the author of the liner notes, Graham Wade, referred to Desyatnikov directly.
The performances on Tangos for Violin, Brass Quintet, and Percussion raise provocative concerns. To play Piazzolla's works effectively, musicians must understand the composer's diverse blend of tango, jazz, and classical idioms. They must master the distinctive rhythmic gestures that Argentine insiders refer to as “tango swing.” In this respect, Tangos for Violin, Brass Quintet, and Percussion falls short of expectations. The accomplished performers on this CD fail to render the inner rhythms of Piazzolla's music correctly. They interpret the nuevo tango style using slow tempos with overaccented downbeats that disrupt the natural flow of the music. In addition, they misapply elements of a jazz swing style (such as slide vibrato on the trombone) to Piazzolla's works. Although these techniques are appropriate for the Tommy Dorsey band, they have no relationship to the Argentine tango tradition, nor do they respond to the progressive jazz styles that Piazzolla embraced. The one performer on this album who has an innate sense of nuevo tango style is the gifted solo violinist, Andrea Tacchi. Yet, De Sena's arrangements fail to include Tacchi consistently throughout the CD.
Tangos for Violin, Brass Quintet, and Percussion is a technically polished recording that runs counter to Piazzolla's musical conception. Brass enthusiasts who purchase this CD may think that they are getting the “real Piazzolla,” but the truth is quite different. It is difficult to believe that Piazzolla would have approved these arrangements, given his resistance to performers who made excessive changes to his work. He once told the Argentine writer, Natalio Gorin: “The one thing I could never stand was that the essence might get lost. I wanted tango swing, not jazz swing or contemporary music swing. Piazzolla had to sound like Piazzolla.”Footnote 2 This critique speaks directly to the issues with Tangos for Violin, Brass Quintet, and Percussion; although some listeners may appreciate this album for its high energy and brilliant showmanship, it fails to offer a culturally informed vision of Piazzolla and his work.
