Album

Barbara Nissman's excellent and authoritative recordings of the piano music of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera at one time belonged to a group of recordings purchased by Sony from Newport Classics and subsequently never used. Small Texas-based indie Pierian Recording Society deserves congratulations in recognizing the need for the return of these releases to the active catalog. This two-disc set Ginastera: The Complete Music for Piano and Piano Chamber Ensembles contains all of Ginastera's piano music save a tiny, two-minute scrap called the Peqeña Danza. It also includes three chamber works, Pampeana No. 1 for violin and piano, Op. 16, Pampeana No. 2, Op. 21, and Sonata for cello & piano, Op. 49; and finally, Ginastera's Quintet for piano and string quartet, Op. 25.

To some, Ginastera's extraordinary talents early on, and his easy assimilation of Argentine folk elements into a spicy Bartókian idiom, indicated he might become Argentina's answer to Heitor Villa-Lobos. This view also argues that Ginastera was ultimately brought down by the scandal of his ribald 1967 opera Bomarzo and a need to "keep up with the Joneses" in terms of making his style increasingly difficult, "modernistic," and sympathetic to trends in mid-century European composition. Ginastera's post-1952 piano output, such as his second and third piano sonatas, are a tough sell, being discordant in the extreme. Nonetheless, Ginastera never has lost his interest in rhythm; younger listeners who embrace challenging and disruptive music will easily enjoy the later Ginastera pieces included here. In the Sonata for cello & piano of 1979, Ginastera's widow Aurora Natola-Ginastera is featured in the solo part in what is a very finely wrought and expressive work that deserves to be better known.

Average listeners should not have any trouble with the piano pieces dating from 1952 backward, including the famous Piano Sonata No. 1. All of these are superlative pieces that are central to the proper understanding of twentieth century Argentine music. Barbara Nissman is the ideal advocate for them: she is physically strong and able to project the music's moments of fiery intensity without driving the bus through the flowerbed in parts that are more gentle. The Newport Classic recordings are of such quality of engineering that they have not dated at all.

© Uncle Dave Lewis , Rovi

CD 1 of 2
Alberto Ginastera Composer Piano Sonata No.1, Op.22 Work 13:56 Barbara Nissman Piano
1	1.Allegro marcato	3:56			$0.99
2	2.Presto misterioso	2:42			$0.99
3	3.Adagio molto appassionato	4:27			$0.99
4	4.Ruvido ed ostinato	2:51			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Piano Sonata No.2, Op.53 Work 11:50 Barbara Nissman Piano
5	1.Allegramente	3:49			$0.99
6	2.Adagio sereno. Scorrevole. Ripresa dell'adagio	4:29			$0.99
7	3.Ostinato aymará	3:32			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Piano Sonata No.3, Op.54 Work Barbara Nissman Piano
8	Piano Sonata No.3, Op.54	4:55			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer 3 Danzas argentinas, Op.2 Work 7:22 Barbara Nissman Piano
9	1.Danza del fiejo boyero (Dance of the Old Herdsman)	1:34			$0.99
10	2.Danza de la moza donosa (Dance of the Graceful Maiden)	2:54			$0.99
11	3.Danza del gaucho matrero (Dance of the Intrepid Cowboy)	2:54			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer 3 Piezas, Op.6 Work 9:12 Barbara Nissman Piano
12	1.Cuyana	2:45			$0.99
13	2.Norteña	2:59			$0.99
14	3.Criolla	3:28			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Malambo, Op.7 Work Barbara Nissman Piano
15	Malambo, Op.7	3:51			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer 12 Preludios americanos, Op.12 Work 12:41 Barbara Nissman Piano
16	1.Para los accentos	0:30			$0.99
17	2.Triste	1:01			$0.99
18	3.Danza criolla	1:21			$0.99
19	4.Vidala	0:55			$0.99
20	5.En el 1er modo pentafono menor	1:15			$0.99
21	6.Tribute to Roberto Garcia Morillo	0:48			$0.99
22	7.Para las octavas	0:32			$0.99
23	8.Tribute to Juan José Castro	0:40			$0.99
24	9.Tribute to Aaron Copland	0:58			$0.99
25	10.Pastorale	1:56			$0.99
26	11.Homenaje a Heitor Villa-Lobos	0:49			$0.99
27	12.En el 1er modo pentafono major	1:56			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Suite de danzas criollas, Op.15 Work 7:02 Barbara Nissman Piano
28	1.Adagietto pianissimo	1:24			$0.99
29	2.Allegro rustico	0:37			$0.99
30	3.Allegretto cantabile	1:19			$0.99
31	4.Calmo e poetico	1:19			$0.99
32	5.Scherzando	2:23			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Rondó sobre temas infantiles argentinos, Op.19 Work Barbara Nissman Piano
33	Rondó sobre temas infantiles argentinos, Op.19	2:41			$0.99
CD 2 of 2
Alberto Ginastera Composer Pampeana No.1, for violin and piano, Op.16 Work Ruben Gonzalez Violin, Barbara Nissman Piano
1	Pampeana No.1, for violin and piano, Op.16	9:50			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer 2 Canciones, Op.3 Work Barbara Nissman Piano
2	2.Milonga	1:59			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Estancia, Op.8a (suite from the ballet) Work 7:00 Barbara Nissman Piano
3	Tres Danzas No.1	1:34			$0.99
4	Tres Danzas No.2	2:34			$0.99
5	Tres Danzas No.3	2:52			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Arrangement: Domenico Zipoli's 'Toccata per organo' Work Barbara Nissman Piano
6	Arrangement: Domenico Zipoli's 'Toccata per organo'	6:23			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Piano Quintet, Op.29 Work 18:39 Laurentian String Quartet String Quartet, Barbara Nissman Piano
7	1.Introduzione	3:20			$0.99
8	2.Cadenza 1: For Viola and Cello	2:31			$0.99
9	3.Scherzo fantasico	2:55			$0.99
10	4.Candenza 2: For 2 Violins	2:48			$0.99
11	5.Piccola musica notturna	4:25			$0.99
12	6.Cadenza 3: For Piano	1:29			$0.99
13	7.Finale	1:11			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Pampeana No.2: Rhapsody for Cello and Piano, Op.21 Work Aurora Natola-Ginastera Cello, Barbara Nissman Piano
14	Pampeana No.2: Rhapsody for Cello and Piano, Op.21	8:32			$0.99
Alberto Ginastera Composer Cello Sonata, Op.49 Work 18:59 Aurora Natola-Ginastera Cello, Barbara Nissman Piano
15	1.Allegro deciso	5:41			$0.99
16	2.Adagio passionato	6:45			$0.99
17	3.Presto mormoroso	2:53			$0.99
18	4.Allegro con fuoco	3:40			$0.99