Composed for the Louisville Orchestra and dedicated to that ensemble and its conductor, Robert Whitney, this work completes Ginastera's musical trilogy inspired by the Pampas, or low-lying plains, of Argentina. (The earlier two items in the Pampeana series were for violin and piano, and cello and piano.) Unlike Ginastera's ballet Estancia, this work follows no story and turns its attention from gauchos to nature itself. Its first and third movements are slow and introspective. The first, Adagio contemplativo, follows an arch-like ABCBA pattern; the music, as suggested by the tempo designation, is meditative, employing delicate instrumental colors. The second movement, Impetuosamente, takes the form of a scherzo, with fast, macho, percussive outer sections surrounding a bucolic trio, under which occasionally creeps a restive rhythmic figure. Also in three parts is the final movement, Largo con poetica esaltazione. Although it is based on a twelve-tone theme, the music develops quite freely, ignoring serial techniques (which would attract Ginastera more seriously in the 1960s). Like the opening movement, this section is highly meditative, but rises to one impressive midpoint climax along the way to a mysterious fade-out.

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