The Miro Quartet, celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, presents an album featuring the complete string quartets of Alberto Ginastera, one of the most influential Latin American composers of the 20th century. A master of vivid contrasts and emotional depth, Ginastera infused his music with the spirit of Argentine folk traditions, bold modernist language, and a profound sense of expression. These three quartets span the entirety of his creative development, tracing a fascinating journey across three distinct stylistic periods. The first two quartets are considered undiscovered masterpieces, often performed live to great reception but rarely recorded in their entirety alongside the third. The vibrant rhythmic energy and folkloric colours of the first quartet, the introspective lyricism of the second, and the haunting intensity of the third each reflect Ginastera's unique fusion of influences, drawing from composers like Bartok and Stravinsky to create a sound full of emotional rawness and storytelling. Together, these quartets form a powerful cycle, showcasing Ginastera's ability to create distinct narratives within each piece, while also weaving them into a larger, cohesive musical story. This is the Miro Quartet's third album on PENTATONE, following the recording of Beethoven's Complete String Quartets (2019) and Home (2024).

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) is a distinctive voice in twentieth-century classical music, and together with the master of the tango, Astor Piazzolla, he is the towering musical figure of Argentina. Born in Buenos Aires of an Italian mother and a Catalonian father, Ginastera is a complex composer and personality, shaped by the traditional folk culture and history of his native country and by impulses from the world at large, during a time of radical upheavals in the realm of Western classical music. The Harp Concerto was commissioned in 1956 by Edna Phillips. The work was not premiered until 1965, and then it was the Spanish harpist Nicanor Zabaleta. When the concerto first appeared, it became a brilliant addition to the harp literature and twentieth-century instrumental concertos. Variaciones concertantes was completed more than ten years earlier and was premiered in Buenos Aires in 1953. The music is an irresistible combination of orchestral timbres and virtuosity communicating directly with the listener, especially as regards the entertainment aspect inherent in virtuosic orchestral sound and a demanding soloist performance.

Also available: Ginastera: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 / Mena, BBC Philharmonic

This is the second in our three-volume series of Juanjo Mena's idiomatic exploration of Ginastera's orchestra works with the BBC Philharmonic. The series was started to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the greatest of all Argentinean composers, Vol. 1 - receiving uniformly high praise. This album features a late work, lesser-known, yet rich in surprises, namely the Second Piano Concerto. Here the keen musicality and sweeping virtuosity of Xiayin Wang meet the sumptuous sound of the BBC orchestra. It succeeds her recording of concertos by Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian with the RSNO which was made Editor's Choice by Gramophone. It is coupled with the exotic early ballet Panambi, heard complete with a concluding contribution from the Manchester Chamber Choir.

Considered one of the most influential 20th century composers of the Americas, Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) composed a great oeuvre including ballets, operas, piano works, orchestral pieces and more. His works can be grouped into three periods, “Objective Nationalism” (1934-1948), “Subjective Nationalism” (1948-1958), and “Neo-Expressionism” (1958-1983). The four works featured on this release come from his late period of neo-expressionism. In these pieces traditional classical style can be heard, as well as Ginastera’s experimentations with the avant-garde. Arturo Tamayo conducts the brilliant Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for this recording. Tamayo conducts in both the concert hall as well as the opera house, and conducts with orchestras across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

In his final year as BBC Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor, Juanjo Mena completes a highly-acclaimed Ginastera series with this third volume. Like in his previous series ‘La Musica de Espana,’ Mena brings the composer’s creative genius to a more deserved fame, showcasing here three works that belonged to three different periods of his compositional life. While the Concierto Argentino is the most significant score of his early years, drawing directly on Argentinian folk music and full of youthful exuberance, the Variaciones Concertantes (more a concerto for orchestra than a set of variations) assumes a more personal and abstract form in accordance with the development of his harmonic ideas in the later stage of his life. The rhythmic energy and magic scoring of the ‘neo-expressionist’ piano concerto (as Ginastera defined the third phase of his life) is faithfully expressed by the highly technical and virtuosic playing of Xiayin Wang, widely praised for her recent solo recording of piano works by Enrique Granados.

Also available: Ginastera: Orchestral Works 2 / Mena, Wang, Manchester Chamber Choir, BBC Philharmonic

Impressive in our ongoing, very successful Spanish music series, the BBC Philharmonic and its chief conductor, Juanjo Mena, also explores the works of the Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera in three orchestral volumes. Not only acknowledged as a leading South-American composer of his day, Ginastera is also seen as one of the heroes of Latin-American music in general, whose enduring source of inspiration was Argentina itself: its pre-Columbian legacy on the one hand and the vast landscapes of the pampas on the other.

Review:

There is some fabulous solo playing here, not least from the BBC Philharmonic's principal flute…bring on Vol. 2!

– Gramophone

The BBC Philharmonic is in cracking form at the moment…and in Juanjo Mena it has a chief conductor capable of leading it through the dance rhythms and moods of the Spanish-speaking world with gusto and understanding…altogether, this is a thoroughly enjoyable start to what should be a significant series.

– BBC Music Magazine

Ginastera: Complete Music for Piano

Alberto Ginastera is considered one of three 20th century composers that brought Argentina to the forefront of global attention, along with Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla. Whereas Gardel and Piazzolla came out of the Argentine tango tradition, Alberto Ginastera is considered th emost important Argentinian classical composer of the 20th century. Anchored by the engaged work of the Deutsche Staatsphilarmonie Rheinland conducted by Karl-Heinz Steffens, this release is a marelous retrospective of Ginastera's development beginning with his 'first period' and the folklorically influenced Obertura para el Fausto Criollo, Op. 9 (1943) as well as the Symphonic Triptych Ollantay, Op. 17, inspired by his trip to the U.S. (1947).
The Variaciones Concertantes for chamber orchestra, Op. 23 (1953) derive from the middle of Ginastera's middle period. Finally, the premiere recording of the opera Bomarzo, Op. 34 (1966/67) represents the penultimate work of Ginastera's third and final 'New-expressionist' period

Classical Music

Michael Korstick has produced more than forty albums and with them, received distinctions such as the Echo Klassik, Midem Classical Award of Cannes, as well as repeated prizes of the German Record Critics. Since 2014 he has live and worked in Linz, Austria, where he holds a professorship at the Anton Bruckner Private Univeristy. On his latest album, Korstick dedicates himself to the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera with great passion and virtuosic technique. The present album released on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Ginastera's birth comprises this composer's complete published piano oeuvre - apart from his Piano Sonata No. 2. The pieces display great virtuosity, brilliance and rhythmic brisance. In the piano parts Ginastera comes forward as an orchestral composer who repeatedly complicates the piano part with enormous intervals imitating the effect of percussion and wind instruments and playable in the exact rhythm only with great difficulties. For Korstick this is no problem. After all, reviewers have repeatedly emphasized as a characteristic quality of his playing the astonishing balance he maintains between brilliant virtuosity and musical interiorization while negotiating between his very distinctive personality and uncompromising faithfulness to the works.

Classical Music

Sean Shibe returns to the classical guitar on Profesión, bringing together works by Agustín Barrios, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Alberto Ginastera. The album derives its name from Barrios’s “Profesión de Fe” (profession of faith), a poem which he often used as a preface to his concerts. The poem references indigenous mythological deities, and praises the power of the guitar as the ultimate conduit to the secrets of the divine South-American destiny. Barrios’s La Catedral and Julia Florida are combined with Villa Lobos’s 12 Études, while Ginastera’s Sonata completes the program.

These works by South American composers begin with homage and pastiche in reverence of the Old World, but build towards a totally original idiom - musical magical realism. The repertoire is voluminous, indulging in excess, and narcotic, and as such creates a counterweight to the reserved and introspective nature of Shibe’s acclaimed classical predecessor album Camino.

This will be Shibe’s first-ever album focusing on repertoire that was originally written for the classical guitar, and he plays a Hauser copy built for Julian Bream. It was considered one of the best instruments of the 1930s, and fits the sound world of this program like a glove.

REVIEWS:

It’s an extraordinary account [of the Villa-Lobos], bursting with nuance and personality and easily rivaling Julian Bream’s classic, late-1970s version.

— Gramophone

This is a gleaming and brilliant album that doesn’t fail to awaken the senses to the exhilarating world of un-adulterated acoustic sound.

— BBC Music Magazine

Rhythm is at the heart of the new CD of piano music released on the GENUIN label by José Navarro-Silberstein. The winner of numerous competitions (including the Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition in Germany, the Claudio Arrau Competition in Chile, and the Tbilisi International Piano Competition) combines Schumann's “Davidsbündler dances” with South American piano works by Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, and Sandi. Dance has played an essential role in all civilizations and is an integral part of everyday life in a wide variety of cultures. Navarro-Silberstein offers a veritable palette of diverse musical dance forms, ranging from stylized folk music to sublimated art music, all in accomplished, beautifully sonorous interpretations.

This disc gathers three recordings, of compositions from one of the best and most original Latin American composers from the '60s and '70s. (First Edition)

This delightful album contains an interesting Spanish and Latin-American piano program with Swiss pianist Marian Rosenfeld. Unknown and highly appealing works by Turina, Villa-Lobos and others are highlighted. Marian Rosenfeld immediately captivates the audience with her intensity: her passionate and personal playing leaves no one untouched. Born into a family of musicians in Lucerne, she was accepted into Homero Francesch's master class at the Zurich University of Music at the age of thirteen and made her debut at the Tonhalle Zurich at the age of fourteen. With second prize at the Eurovision competition for young musicians in Copenhagen in 1986, she is still the most successful Swiss in this competition. Further prizes and awards as a soloist or as a chamber musician followed, e.g. nationally the multiple award of the study prize of the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund or a well-known sponsorship prize of the city of Zug, as well as the international competition of the ARD (in a duo with her brother Rafael Rosenfeld) and the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau. Building on this, concerts followed in leading houses in Europe, including Vienna, Salzburg, Lisbon, Berlin and London (Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall).