The history of Argentine concert music during the 20th century was a process of the absorption of various European influences and their melding with more indigenous traditions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Argentine composers tended to study in Europe or North America, and the result was the appearance of a number of striking personalities who eventually attracted worldwide attention. Three names now stand out: Alberto Ginastera, Mauricio Kagel, and Astor Piazzolla. In addition to these stylistically extreme figures, a number of quality composers remained known principally only within Argentina. The leading creative figure among them was Carlos Guastavino. Guastavino's music remained firmly based in the language of the late 19th and early 20th century, maintaining that music should be based on singable melody and tonal harmony, and written for the here and now, not for discovery by future generations. He succeeded instead in creating a national music that was genuinely popular and accessible to a very wide audience. Celebrated pianist Martin Jones recorded the complete music of Carlos Guastavino in 2008. This is a compilation of the best selections from those recording sessions.

Born in 1984, Marcos Madrigal has been studying and absorbing the piano music of Carlos Guastavino ever since his Havana childhood. This album is the outcome of decades of affection distilled into a single album, which presents a personal but carefully curated journey through over half a century of fluent composition. Born and died in the Argentinian city of Santa Fe, hundreds of kilometers from Buenos Aires, Guastavino (1912-2000) spanned the decades of modernism with all its tumultuous innovation, but his language, like most of his compatriot composers, remained rooted in the 19th century. However, while he refined his talent in both song and the piano miniature to capture a world within the space of a five-minute miniature, his idiom is not burdened by nostalgia or a regret for a lost time. Rather, Guastavino finds ever-ingenious ways to celebrate life in all its richness, and perhaps this positive outlook in his music has helped it to travel far beyond his native land. He explores the sounds of his vast nation – the folksongs, the streets and the forests are all here – without undue reliance on picture-postcard naturalism any more than Spanish masters such as de Falla and Granados. The repertoire ranges from the early and well-known Bailecito (Little dance, 1940), to El Sampedrino (The Man from San Pedro, 1992), from his final decade, via two ten-piece cycles: Diez Cantinelas Argentinas (Ten Argentinian songs), composed in the 1950s, and Diez Cantos Populares (Ten folk songs), written in 1974 – all works that reveal Guastavino’s sheer love of melody. Although his writing is never facile in terms of structure or harmony, these technical aspects are always placed in the service of a cantabile upper line that is always distinctive, catchy and clearly influenced by folk song.

This is a wonderful program of Latin American piano works, performed by Israeli pianist Gila Goldstein.

HOMMAGE TO C. GUASTAVINO

GUASTAVINO: Piano Music

Simple delight in well-crafted, unpretentious music-making.

These three CDs present, in almost chronological order, the complete piano music of a composer who will, I imagine, be unfamiliar to most readers. Carlos Guastavino was born in Santa Fé, the capital of the northern Argentine province of the same name. After studies at home and in Buenos Aires he achieved international recognition as a pianist, touring South America, the USSR and China, and giving broadcasts on the BBC in London. His musical language is firmly rooted in tradition, believing that music should be firmly based on singable melodies and tonal harmony and written for us now, not for the discovery of future generations.

The first three pieces are delightful. A fast dance, a slow atmospheric piece and a dedication to beautiful earth, beautiful country (Tierra Linda), a phrase often used to refer to Argentina itself, get this set off to a fine start. Easily approachable, delightful to listen to, difficult to play, Guastavino has the vernacular of his country’s music at his fingertips.

The Sonatina in G minor is a light hearted piece. Already Guastavino has started to simplify his style and the sheer exuberance of the finale is a joy. The Sonata of two years later is more serious in substance but equally easy going in language, and is only let down by a rather banal fugue in the middle of the finale, but a return to the colloquial material redeems this. And so it goes for this first CD.

The second CD contains two sets of ten pieces each. The Diez Preludios are well characterized pieces, being free, and simple, settings of children’s songs and very attractive they are too. Very short, they leave you wanting more. The Diez Cantilenas Argentinas which follow are much bigger pieces, more nationalistic in feel. The tempi are, in general, leisurely and the composer takes his time to make his point. These are lovely pieces, abstract in feel with a thicker texture than the Preludios, and much more filigree writing.

The final CD starts with a shock. Here is some strong, individual music, obviously from the same hand as the earlier pieces but with more character. Until now I was beginning to wonder if Guastavino’s style developed and was most pleasingly surprised with these Tres Romances Nuevos (Three New Romances), although there are only two! Pueblito, mu pueblo, Cancion Argentina is a step backwards, being a later arrangement of a very early song, but with Las Presencias (Appearances) and Mis Amigos (My Friends) we reach Guastavino’s mature style, and most attractive it is. These fifteen short pieces are portraits of friends (some imaginary!) and they are light and delicate, full of colour and a real feel for the south. It really was worth waiting for these prizes. The final set of Popular Songs presents the most effective treatment of simple material with a childlike effortlessness.

If you’re expecting highly rhythmic, heavily accented Argentinian music of the Ginastera type, or the slinky, sexy tangos of the great Astor Piazzolla then this is not for you. What Guastavino gives us is South America through a late 19th – early 20th century European compositional style, but with the voice of the Americas always to the fore. This is not a set for playing from start to finish in one sitting, but there’s enough music of interest, and variety within the small style, here for many enjoyable visits.

Martin Jones is a fine, and always reliable, pianist so I have no doubt that his performances are of the first order, they certainly sound most authoritative - I have never seen the music so am relying entirely on my ears! - and I suspect the thoroughly enjoyed himself when recording these most enjoyable works.

The booklet is excellent, Calum MacDonald’s twelve pages of biography and discussion of the music are all one could want in helping you through music which is new to you.

Well worth having for the simple delight in solid, well crafted and unpretentious compositions and music making.

-- Bob Briggs, MusicWeb International

The Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) was unafraid to distance himself from contemporary modernism. He resolutely followed his own path, leaving experimentation to others, creating a catalogue of over 500 intimate, autobiographical works harking back to the 19th century, many of them for voice and piano. In keeping with the aesthetic of these songs, this album has been given a ‘vintage’ sound quality, evocative of the 45 and 78 rpm records of a bygone era. Guastavino studied chemical engineering in the Argentinian town of Santa Fe, before going to Buenos Aires in 1938, having received a district grant to study music at the National Conservatory. But on arriving there, instead of entering the conservatory, he elected to take private lessons. His earliest published songs date from around this time, and they became taken up by European artists who were entranced by Guastavino’s gift for memorable, singable melody. Concert tours took him across the world, but his music was always flavoured by the sound of his homeland nostalgia for Argentina, its people, and especially its flora and fauna in such works as Flores Argentinas (1969) and Siete Canciones sobre poesías de Rafael Alberti (1946). The intelligence and artistic sensitivity of Cuban pianist Marcos Madrigal and Italian soprano Letizia Calandra, combined with the poetics of Guastavino, make for an album of warmth, tranquility and delight. Letizia Calandra combines perfect diction with a gift for creating different vocal colours, and a dramatic skill that conveys the theatrical quality of Guastavino’s settings. For his part, Marcos Madrigal is sensitive to all the little nods and winks in Guastavino’s writing, accentuating for example his quotation of instrumental commonplaces of other periods, such as the horn call in ‘Jardín de amores’ (Garden of love), the first of the Alberti songs.