Day 268
Ginastera: Estancia ballet suite
Josep Pons
I’ve very little experience of Ginastera. I do remember a pianist who had just played a concerto with our orchestra playing a piece of his as an encore after her performance - she seemed to enjoy the freedom of playing a solo much more than she did playing a concerto. Otherwise I am not conscious of ever having heard anything else he wrote.
This short suite from his 1941 ballet has a slightly curious history in that the planned performance of the ballet was postponed for several years and so the work was first heard as a suite. The suite is in 4 movements and is full of Latin American inspired rhythms. The music is very Coplandesque -indeed some of it seems almost direct imitation but it doesn’t quite have the bite of Copland’s best scores. Indeed at times it almost seemed to be a slightly pale imitation. I imagine that it is highly effective as music to dance to but frankly I found parts of it rather routine as a pure concert piece.
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