Bearing the early date of 1934, Alberto Ginastera's Piezas infantiles lay outside the body of the composer's catalogued works. The Piezas constitute a group of very short (most under a minute in duration) character pieces for piano à la Robert Schumann's Carnival. At this point in the composer's development, Ginastera's harmonic and textural inventiveness is a tool applied to the surface of the music rather than the internalized force that would shape his later works from within. For example, in the second entry in the series, entitled "Osito bailando" (Little Dancing Bear), the effect that Ginastera achieves is so evocative and comical because it sounds (using some acrobatic logic) like it's not supposed to sound like that. On the other hand, the unsettling lullaby of "Arrorró" uses uneasy dissonances to skew its otherwise soporific character. The breadth and variety of harmonic effects and textural devices that appear throughout the Piezas infantiles presage the colorful palette of Ginastera's mature musical language.

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