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Brilliant Classics

Guastavino: Guitar Works

Modern Romantic Nostalgic Serene Melancholic
$14.99

Details

Composer
Carlos Guastavino
Artist
Leonardo Palacios
Format
CD
Label
Brilliant Classics
Released
Feb 27, 2026
Catalog #
BRI97493
UPC
5063758974936

About

The guitar output of a landmark figure in Argentinean classical music, fusing national melodies and dances with European forms in a fusion of perennial appeal. Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) became internationally renowned, after the Second World War, for song-cycles and works for his own instrument, the piano, which refracted his Argentinean identity, and the culture of his home nation, through European classical idioms. Without plugging himself in to the current of modernism which coursed through the work of American contemporaries, from Copland and Carter in the US to Chavez and Revueltas in Mexico, and down to Brazilian composers such as Claudio Santoro, Guastavino nonetheless belonged to their age, and spoke of his time through his music. Composed between 1967 and 1973, his three sonatas for the guitar embody sonata form in both the progress of their individual movements and their larger, three-movement structures. The First Sonata is dedicated to his brother, Jose Amadeo, who played the guitar as an amateur, and inspired Carlos to write for the instrument. Jose Amadeo died by his own hand while Carlos was at work on the sonata, and it's central movement is an elegy to his memory. The Second, more Romantic in tone, deploys native rhythms such as the Zampa as well as jazzy harmonies. The Third returns to the Zampa but in a more intricately worked style. Here, the central movement is a smoky Milonga, evoking a mood more familiar from the tangos of Astor Piazzolla. Leonardo Palacios sets the sonatas in their context with transcriptions of five short pieces originally conceived for piano: Apegado a mi, Vidala del Secadal, Santa Fe para llorar, the seventh of Guastavino's Cantos Populares and finally the Bailecito (Little Dance) which established his fame worldwide. As a Uruguayan guitarist with decades of experience as a performer and teacher, Palacios brings both technical refinement and idiomatic sensitivity to Guastavino's music: he also contributes the booklet note to this album, giving the listener an invaluable sense of the composer's place in his world.

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 6 Canciones de cuna: No. 2. Apegado a mí (arr. J. Oraisón for guitar) 02:40
    Track
    1
    Title
    6 Canciones de cuna: No. 2. Apegado a mí (arr. J. Oraisón for guitar)
    Duration
    02:40
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  2. 2 I. Allegro deciso e molto ritmico 06:33
    Track
    2
    Title
    I. Allegro deciso e molto ritmico
    Duration
    06:33
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  3. 3 II. Andante 03:47
    Track
    3
    Title
    II. Andante
    Duration
    03:47
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  4. 4 III. Allegro spiritoso 03:48
    Track
    4
    Title
    III. Allegro spiritoso
    Duration
    03:48
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  5. 5 12 Canciones populares: No. 5. Vidala del secadal (arr. J. Oraisón for guitar) 03:40
    Track
    5
    Title
    12 Canciones populares: No. 5. Vidala del secadal (arr. J. Oraisón for guitar)
    Duration
    03:40
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  6. 6 I. Allegretto intimo ed espressivo 07:11
    Track
    6
    Title
    I. Allegretto intimo ed espressivo
    Duration
    07:11
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  7. 7 II. Andante sostenuto 04:20
    Track
    7
    Title
    II. Andante sostenuto
    Duration
    04:20
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  8. 8 III. Presto 03:24
    Track
    8
    Title
    III. Presto
    Duration
    03:24
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  9. 9 10 Cantilenas argentinas: No. 1. … Santa Fe para llorar (arr. for guitar) 04:39
    Track
    9
    Title
    10 Cantilenas argentinas: No. 1. … Santa Fe para llorar (arr. for guitar)
    Duration
    04:39
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  10. 10 10 Cantos populares: No. 7. — (arr. J. Oraisòn for guitar) 03:09
    Track
    10
    Title
    10 Cantos populares: No. 7. — (arr. J. Oraisòn for guitar)
    Duration
    03:09
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  11. 11 I. Allegro preciso e ritmico 07:28
    Track
    11
    Title
    I. Allegro preciso e ritmico
    Duration
    07:28
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  12. 12 II. Adagio 03:47
    Track
    12
    Title
    II. Adagio
    Duration
    03:47
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  13. 13 III. Allegro 04:13
    Track
    13
    Title
    III. Allegro
    Duration
    04:13
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios
  14. 14 Bailecito (arr. L. Palacios for guitar) 03:44
    Track
    14
    Title
    Bailecito (arr. L. Palacios for guitar)
    Duration
    03:44
    Composer
    Carlos Guastavino
    Performer
    Leonardo Palacios