Ginastera: Glosses sobre temes de Pau Casals & Variaciones Concertantes

Featuring

Gisele Ben-Dor
London Symphony Orchestra
Israel Chamber Orchestra
Alberto Ginastera

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Performer Biography

Gisèle Ben-Dor, the conductor, is Uruguayan by birth and upbringing and is known for championing Latin American composers like Ginastera, Revueltas, and Villa-Lobos.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Ginastera's music is characterized by native 'gauchesco' harmonies and rhythms, alluding to the pampas, the ranch lands of Argentina.

Composer Biography

Pablo Casals, the cellist whose themes are glossed in this work, was a Catalan cellist of legendary performance skills, who died in 1973.

Composer Biography

Alberto Ginastera, the composer, was born in Buenos Aires in 1916 to second-generation Argentines of Catalonian and Lombardian ancestry, with no known musical background in his family.

Compositional Technique

The 'Variaciones concertantes' features a 'malambo,' an Argentinian 'jousting' dance of the gaucho, described as a display of skill with complicated footwork.

Recording & Production

This album features two versions of 'Glosses on Themes of Pablo Casals': the original for string quintet and string orchestra, and a later fully-orchestrated version.

Composition History

The 'Glosses on Themes of Pablo Casals' was commissioned by the Festival Casals of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Committee for the 1976 American Bicentennial to celebrate Pablo Casals's birth centenary and America's independence.