Ginastera's Garden

[not edward]

1)We have two choices for the 2 Cello Concertos: Naxos and the Composer's daughter. Any thoughts?

2)Also, how essential is Popal Vuh? It looks delicious...

3)Then there's that disc of 3 Piano Concertos... anyone?

1. Naxos, without a shadow of a doubt.
2. Moderately. It's a lot of fun and has some astonishing moments, but doesn't entirely hang together. I recommend the Neos recording as it also includes the wonderful Cantata para America magica for soprano and percussion ensemble.
3. No. It's awful.

[snyprrr]

1. Naxos, without a shadow of a doubt.
2. Moderately. It's a lot of fun and has some astonishing moments, but doesn't entirely hang together. I recommend the Neos recording as it also includes the wonderful Cantata para America magica for soprano and percussion ensemble.
3. No. It's awful.

awesome, thanks!

Can't believe Nissman is "awful" though... must be the music? When we talk PCs I mixed up Ginastera, Chavez, and Villa-Lobos- also with Cello (and/or) Violin Concertos... maybe I'm mixed up here...


It seems "Variaciones Concertantes' is his most recorded "secondary" piece.

[snyprrr]

1. Naxos, without a shadow of a doubt.
2. Moderately. It's a lot of fun and has some astonishing moments, but doesn't entirely hang together. I recommend the Neos recording as it also includes the wonderful Cantata para America magica for soprano and percussion ensemble.
3. No. It's awful.

Something about your answer made me have to go check out 'Popol Vuh' first. Mmm... yes, not the Masterpiece I was expecting, so glad I listened first. I would have gotten Slatkin, frankly, and I can't imagine how it compares to 'Le Sacre'? I mean, there wasn't much 'there' there for a 25 minute piece, lots of low rumbling type stuff punctuated with moments of Ginasteran violence. Mmm... thanks for alerting me! I'll come back to it later now that I know what to expect. (I just hate "surprises" like that)

So, the Cello Concertos on Naxos it is!

[lescamil]

See my review of the Nissman concertos disk below. Both concertos are great works I love, but are still in dire need of a decent recording. There are a few good broadcast recordings of the first concerto, though, including a stunner with Rolf Hind playing.

Completely agreed. Nissman's solo disks with the piano works and chamber music aren't great, either. Her playing leaves a lot to be desired and I was disappointed to see that she was the one that undertook this project. I put a scathing review of this on another site, but you highlighted the major quip I had, which was the cuts. She apparently also played an original version of the second movement of the second concerto, which is for right hand alone, but, even so, it sounds technically inadequate and under-rehearsed, both on her part and the part of the orchestra. The Naxos recordings are slower and safer, but at least all of the notes are there and the playing is satisfactory enough. This just shows how difficult it is to pull off these concertos for all parties involved, and despite my critical comments, I still commend these artists for putting out their efforts!

[ritter]

Bump...

Some interesting news from Boosey & Hawkes concerning live events and recordings scheduled for Ginastera's centennial next year:

Ginastera centenary highlights announced for 2016
(October 2015)

The centenary of composer Alberto Ginastera is celebrated in 2016 with opera and orchestral performances around the world.

Alberto Ginastera, born in Argentina on 11 April 1916, captured the spirit of the Pampas and the life of the gauchos in his early works, establishing an authentic South American compositional voice. He went on to develop an expressive and richly coloured modern style through a series of concertos and orchestral scores. Despite a chain of major commissions in North America and final years spent in Europe, the Argentinian folk music of his youth and his vividly imagined pre-Columbian world continued to feed his creative life.

The Teatro Colón in Ginastera's native city of Buenos Aires opens its 2016 season with a new production of his opera Beatrix Cenci in March, followed by ten concerts including performances by the Buenos Aires Philharmonic under Enrique Diemecke. Gustavo Dudamel conducts Piano Concerto No.1 internationally with Sergio Tiempo as soloist, including performances in March by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on tour to Lincoln Center in New York, the Barbican in London and the Philharmonie in Paris. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents all three of Ginastera's string quartets in April played by the Miró Quartet. As an upbeat to the centenary the Harp Concerto is performed this autumn by the Chicago Symphony under Riccardo Muti and on a tour by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to Argentina and Chile.

In Europe a new staging of Bomarzo by Pierre Audi is unveiled by the Teatro Real in Madrid in its 2016/17 season and travels on to Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam in a future season. Other highlights include the Violin Concerto and Ollantay in Madrid, the Harp Concerto performed by Marie-Pierre Langlamet and the Berlin Philharmonic, an all-Ginastera concert by the Polish National Radio Symphony in Katowice, Popol Vuh with lighting installation by the celebrated designer rosalie in Karlsruhe, and the recently restored Concierto Argentino in Stavanger. Barbara Nissman, one of Ginastera's most ardent champions, performs a celebratory piano recital at Kings Place in London in the birthday month of April.

New discs in honour of the centenary include a major cycle of ballets, piano concertos and orchestral works recorded by the BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena for Chandos, and the premiere recording of Music from Bomarzo on an all-Ginastera disc from Capriccio. The first recording of Ginastera's intense hour-long oratorio Turbae is promised for release by Trinity Wall Street, drawing upon an acclaimed performance in New York earlier this year and alongside a centenary series with 15 Ginastera works planned for 2016.

Boosey & Hawkes has been undertaking intensive editorial work to prepare Ginastera materials for the centenary year. Newly engraved scores and orchestral parts are now available for Dances from Estancia, the Harp Concerto, Bomarzo and Don Rodrigo and new publications of scores of Piano Concerto No.2, Estudios Sinfonicós, Popol Vuh and Turbae are in preparation.

[Scion7]

I would have thought someone would have tapped Argerich for this centennial.

[ritter]

I would have thought someone would have tapped Argerich for this centennial.

I get the impression that, at this stage in her career, Mrs. Argerich doesn't let herself be "tapped" by anyone... She seems to play what she wants, where she wants, with whom she wants, and when she wants...

[Scion7]

You know of her relationship with the composer, of course?

[Mirror Image]

New discs in honour of the centenary include a major cycle of ballets, piano concertos and orchestral works recorded by the BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena for Chandos, and the premiere recording of Music from Bomarzo on an all-Ginastera disc from Capriccio. The first recording of Ginastera's intense hour-long oratorio Turbae is promised for release by Trinity Wall Street, drawing upon an acclaimed performance in New York earlier this year and alongside a centenary series with 15 Ginastera works planned for 2016.

This paragraph has certainly caught my attention. I'll be waiting for new recordings of the ballets and PCs with great anticipation. That oratorio Turbae sounds rather interesting as well.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

This Ginastera Centennial sounds amazing....I bet it would never be celebrated in Australia. The rest of the world gets all the good stuff as usual.

[ritter]

You know of her relationship with the composer, of course?

Not really...haven't read anything about a relationship between both artists.  What was it, if I may ask (or is that being indiscreet  )?

This paragraph has certainly caught my attention. I'll be waiting for new recordings of the ballets and PCs with great anticipation. That oratorio Turbae sounds rather interesting as well.

Yep, Turbae is an hour-long work for huge forces, which the composer's widow referred to as his "great masterpiece".

As far as upcoming recordings are concerned,a  friend of mine (on the Spanish-language Mahler forum) has pointed out that Arturo Tamayo and the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester have been in the studio to record Ginastera, including the world-première recording of the Symphonic studies op. 35, as can be seen in this video (in German only, sorry):

https://www.youtube.com/v/--Ebmx_OwXI

No mention is made of the label, but given the forces involved, this might be the Capriccio CD Boosey refer to in their press release...

As for live events, you guys can imagine I'm rather excited that right here in my hometown (Madrid) we'll have the Violin concerto with Michael Barenboim and the Spanish National Orchestra under Juanjo Mena next March, and Bomarzo at the Teatro Real in the 2016/17 season, conducted by David Afkham and staged by Pierre Audi.   

[lescamil]

It's great that another CD of the piano concertos is coming out. With all due respect to Karl Miller, a member of this forum who was a part of the last recording of them, we need another recording of those wonderful works. Barbara Nissman did do a great service in recording the Concierto Argentino, which I very much enjoyed. I would love to hear someone else play this work and the second piano concerto. I am of course excited for the other forthcoming releases from Juanjo Mena and company. I've caught BBC broadcasts of some of the works he is recording and I am quite excited.

[The new erato]

staged by Pierre Audi.   

The one with the diesel emissions?

[Scion7]

Both have Argentinian roots.
Ginastera liked her playing and they were friends.
Argerich has promoted several of Ginastera's compositions.

[Daverz]

I may have said this before, but I don't understand why his Violin Concerto is not more popular.  It's a very crowd-pleasing virtuoso work, so I why aren't our violin babes and hunks taking it up?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I may have said this before, but I don't understand why his Violin Concerto is not more popular.  It's a very crowd-pleasing virtuoso work, so I why aren't our violin babes and hunks taking it up?

I'm definitely gonna check this one out tonight!

[springrite]

My copy of Victor's Book of 100 Great Operas has Bomarzo as one of the entries. No one is claiming that is it one of the top 100 operas, and it was only included so that more diversity is presented. It is the only one of the 100 that I have yet to hear a single note from.

Anyone know the piece?

[lescamil]

I've heard pieces of all three of Ginastera's operas at one point, but Bomarzo sticks in my head. It had a very hallucinatory feel, with the plot having a number of flashbacks. If you have heard the Cantata para America Magica, then you have a good idea of the soundworld of the work.

[ritter]

Cross-posted from the "New Releases" thread:

The Ginastera centennial CDs start to appear  :



http://www.mdt.co.uk/ginastera-alberto-obertura-para-el-staatsphilharmonie-rheinland-pfalz-karl-heinz-steffens-capriccio.html

So, it's clear the Arturo Tamayo / DSO recording of the Estudios Sinfónicos I mentioned some posts above is an altogether different effort (not mentioned by Boosey & Hawkes in their webpage).

[Karl Henning]

Trinity Wall Street, that sounds like Julian Wachner is on board; splendid!