Alberto Ginastera

Estancia: Four Dance Episodes, op. 8

          Ginastera was the most important Argentinean composer of the twentieth century—as important to that country as, say, Bartók, was to Hungary (incidentally, his name is pronounced after Catalan pronunciation style—JEE-nah-STEH-rah).  He was a prolific composer, working in most all genres, stylistically focusing early on in his career on native Argentinean folk elements.  During this time he employed traditional folk scales, sonorities that reference the sound of the guitar, and especially the gaucho dance, the malambo.

Variaciones concertantes, op. 23

            Ginastera was the most important Argentinean composer of the twentieth century—as important to that country as, say, Bartók, was to Hungary (incidentally, his name is pronounced after Catalan pronunciation style—JEE-nah-STEH-rah).  He was a prolific composer, working in most all genres, and stylistically focusing early on in his career on native Argentinean folk elements.  During this time he employed traditional folk scales, sonorities that reference the sound of the guitar, and especially the gaucho dance, the malambo.