Guastavino Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Carlos Guastavino
Label: Marco Polo
Magazine Review Date: 5/1994
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 66
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 223462
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Romance del Plata |
Carlos Guastavino, Composer
Carlos Guastavino, Composer Hector Moreno, Piano Norberto Capelli, Piano |
(3) Romances |
Carlos Guastavino, Composer
Carlos Guastavino, Composer Hector Moreno, Piano Norberto Capelli, Piano |
Bailecito |
Carlos Guastavino, Composer
Carlos Guastavino, Composer Hector Moreno, Piano Norberto Capelli, Piano |
Gato |
Carlos Guastavino, Composer
Carlos Guastavino, Composer Hector Moreno, Piano Norberto Capelli, Piano |
Se equivicó la paloma |
Carlos Guastavino, Composer
Carlos Guastavino, Composer Hector Moreno, Piano Norberto Capelli, Piano |
(La) Siesta |
Carlos Guastavino, Composer
Carlos Guastavino, Composer Hector Moreno, Piano |
Presencias |
Carlos Guastavino, Composer
Carlos Guastavino, Composer Norberto Capelli, Piano |
Author: Bryce Morrison
Here, surely, is an excellent answer to that elusive Christmas or birthday present for a friend who loves music, provided it is not too highbrow. Not everything is equally inspired but none of these works is ever less than enjoyable, with melodically grateful ideas, sometimes rising to starry declamation, lavishly treated and embroidered. Guastavino wears his Argentinian colours lightly but unmistakably, though there is a near Faurean modulatory ease and cunning in the Romance del Plata's opening Allegro, its mood of bittersweet regret resolved in a busy tarantella finish. The Andante from the same work is a bit of a trudge but things perk up again in the finale, a jolly fairground tune complete with a playful syncopation that will set heads nodding and feet tapping. ''Baile'' from the Three Romances cocks a snook at its own sentiment and Llanura, after a reflective start, whirls us away in a dizzying concert waltz. Se equivico la paloma will be familiar to all who know the original song, while the final item, ''Horacio Lavalle'' (Las Presencias), leaves the cafe to flirt with more playful and experimental ideas.
The performances are sympathetic, but the recordings are unflatteringly close and airless and the instruments are hardly the finest. Meanwhile, too much Latin-American keyboard music languishes unexplored. Guastavino's solo piano music is well worth looking at; and when is someone going to offer us Guarnieri's 50 Ponteios (''Preludes''), a haunting and evocative anthology of regional Brazil?'
The performances are sympathetic, but the recordings are unflatteringly close and airless and the instruments are hardly the finest. Meanwhile, too much Latin-American keyboard music languishes unexplored. Guastavino's solo piano music is well worth looking at; and when is someone going to offer us Guarnieri's 50 Ponteios (''Preludes''), a haunting and evocative anthology of regional Brazil?'
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