| Title: |
"Ginastera: Variaciones Concertantes/Glosses on Themes of Pablo Casals" |
| Artist: |
Gisèle Ben-Dor |
| |
|
| Glosses on Themes of Pablo Casals for
Orchestra, Opus 48 (1977) |
(17:43) |
London Symphony Orchestra
Tim Hugh, cello |
| 1 |
Introdució |
7:00 |
| 2 |
Romanç |
3:10 |
| 3 |
Sardanes |
2:36 |
| 4 |
Cant |
3:13 |
| 5 |
Conclusió delirant |
1:35 |
| |
|
|
| Variaciones Concertantes, Opus 23 (1953) |
(24:28) |
| Israel Chamber Orchestra |
| 6 |
Tema per Violoncello ed Arpa |
2:12 |
|
Zinovi Kheif, cello - Jana Tsibulevsky, harp |
|
| 7 |
Interludio per Corde |
1:48 |
| 8 |
Variazione giocosa per Flauto |
1:00 |
|
Michael Weintraub, flute |
|
| 9 |
Variazione in modo di Scherzo per Clarinetto |
1:56 |
|
Eli Heifetz, clarinet |
|
| 10 |
Variazione drammatica per Viola |
3:38 |
|
Gad Lewertoff, viola |
|
| 11 |
Variazione canonica per Oboe e Fagotto |
2:42 |
|
Oded Pintus, oboe - Ziv Ben, bassoon |
|
| 12 |
Variazione ritmica per tromba e trombone |
:38 |
|
Hanan Friedman, trumpet - Danny Flam. trombone |
|
| 13 |
Variazione in modo di Moto perpetuo per Violino |
1:03 |
|
Elia Shulman, violin |
|
| 14 |
Variazione pastorale per Corno |
2:12 |
|
Haim Sened, horn |
|
| 15 |
Interludio per Fiatti |
1:16 |
| 16 |
Ripresa dal Tema per Contrabasso |
1:53 |
|
Teddy Kling, contrabass (courtesy of the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra) |
| 17 |
Variazione finale in modo di Rondo per Orchestra |
3:29 |
|
|
|
| Glosses on Themes of Pablo Casals for
string orchestra and string quintet, Opus 46 (1976) |
(16:15) |
| London Symphony Orchestra |
| 18 |
Introdució |
6:01 |
| 19 |
Romanç |
3:12 |
| 20 |
Sardanes |
2:23 |
| 21 |
Cant |
2:52 |
| 22 |
Conclusió delirant |
1:38 |
Yuri Torchinsky & Janice Graham violin;
Paul Silverthorne, viola;
Tim Hugh, cello: Thomas Martin, bass |
|
Alberto Ginastera
To date, Alberto Ginastera is the only Argentine to acquire
an international reputation for his compositional skills. His music however,
with very few exceptions, was clearly characterized by native "gauchesco"
harmonies and rhythms and allusions to the "pampas," the picturesque and
pastoral
ranch lands that identify virtually all of Argentina beyond Buenos Aires
and its ring of suburbs.
Alberto Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires on April 11,
1916. Young Alberto displayed such a determined interest in music that his
parents arranged for private instruction by the age of seven and, at age
twelve, he was enrolled in a conservatory setting. In 1936 Ginastera entered
the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires studying, principally, composition
with José André (1881-1944). According to Ginastera himself,
the scores which made the most profound effects upon him at the time were
Debussy's La Mer and Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps.
The national movement in Argentine music was initiated in
the 1890s by Alberto Williams (1862-1952), with whom Ginastera studied for
a time before entering the National Conservatory, and the movement had already
matured as Ginastera blossomed musically in the 1930s. Even before graduating
from the National Conservatory with highest honors in 1938, Ginastera was
composing prolifically; however, he later destroyed practically all of his
scores dating before 1936. In that year, Ginastera composed his first acknowledged
work, the ballet Panambi "a choreographic legend in one act" based on Argentine
"gauchesco" folklore. It was commissioned for George Balanchine's American
Ballet Caravan by Lincoln Kirstein, but the Caravan folded its tent before
the work could be performed. An orchestral suite drawn from this ballet
score was prepared by the composer, and its performance at the Teatro Colón
on November 27, 1937 with Juan José Castro conducting resulted in
an immediate national reputation for Ginastera while still a conservatory
student. On the basis of this Panambi Suite and the staging in 1940 of Ginastera's
second composed ballet, Estancia, Aaron Copland was moved to opine in a
1942 article appearing in Modern Music that no discussion of Argentine music
could be complete without considering Ginastera's compelling, though at
the time, few, contributions.
In 1942, Ginastera was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to
study in the United States from December 1945 to March 1947.. The composer's
international stature dates from about the time of his composition of the
Variaciones concertantes for Chamber Orchestra, Op. 23, in 1953, and his
creative outlook became more universal. Following the premiere of Don Rodrigo
in 1964, the composer devoted much of his remaining efforts to grand
opera, an endeavor which reached its zenith when Ginastera composed the
inaugural production. Beatriz Cenci for the opera house at the Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in September 1971.
Glosses on Themes of Pablo Casals for String Orchestra and
String 9uintet, Op. 46, was composed in Geneva in response to a joint commission
Ginastera received from the Festival Casals of Puerto Rico in celebration
of the centenary of Pablo Casals' birth and from the Puerto Rico Committee
for the American Bicentennial.
Pablo Casals
Pablo Casals, who died in 1973, was a Catalonian cellist
without peer in his prime. His performance skills were legendary. yet
he always took the time to teach his craft to others. A supporter of the
Spanish Republic, Casals was under an order of execution from the Francisco
France regime when he found refuge in southern France. When at the end
of World War I1 it became obvious to him that France would be allowed
by the Allies to remain in power in Spain, Casals vowed to never play
in public again. He later broke the vow, principally to play (and record)
at the summer festivals he organized and directed from 1950 at Padres
(later moved to Perpignan), France and from 1956 at San Juan, Puerto Rico
where Casals had come to reside.
Variaciones Concertantes recorded July, 1994 at the Mann Auditorium,
Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Produced by Michael Fine, engineered by Victor Fonarov.
Glosses recorded January, 1995 at Abby Road Studios, London, England.
Produced by Michael Fine, engineered by Simon Rhodes.
Assistant Producer: Tamra Saylor Fine, Production Manager: Sum Napodano.
Cover Painting: M. Rosenthallis
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