The 12 American Preludes are probably Ginastera's best piano work next to the popular 2nd Sonata. I recently played some of these (2, 4, 8 and 10) at a wedding (the Latin American touch because the bride was Colombian) and decided I might as well record them. Admittedly these are the easiest one of the lot. Not sure if I will complete the set.

Ginastera - 12 American Preludes - 2: Sadness (0:56)
Ginastera - 12 American Preludes - 3: Creole Dance (1:29)
Ginastera - 12 American Preludes - 4: Vidala (0:54)
Ginastera - 12 American Preludes - 5: In the First Pentatonic Minor Mode (1:47)
Ginastera - 12 American Preludes - 8: Tribute to Juan Jose Castro (0:55)
Ginastera - 12 American Preludes - 10: Pastorale (1:58)

I have not heard these pieces before. I liked no. 10 the best - such interesting harmonies, very nice! No. 8 is pretty nice too and so is no. 4. No. 3 is real wild - good job on all those repeated notes! Kind of strange that the bride chose no. 2 "Sadness"...

Hi Chris,
These are all very well played. You should try to complete the set. No 5 could serve as an oriental meditation given its pentatonic tonality. I have to say that I would not find these appropriate for wedding fare, but if that's what they wanted, oh well. One other thing: I think you mean the Sonata No.1 (Op.22), not the 2nd. The 1st is far more popular.

Hi Chris,

You played these preludes very well. The Creole Dance sounds like a real finger buster. There is certainly a lot of contrast in these pieces. Good job! I've had this volume sitting in my music cabinet for decades, but have yet to play any, although I know I should.

David

Thanks all ! I chose these pieces, together with others, myself. They left it all up to me.
There's a couple of misses in the last bars of the Creole Dance and a missing note in the final run of the Tribute. I may need to redo these two thought I'm not sure if I can get that Creole Dance 100% perfect.
Yes Eddy, I meant the Op.22 Sonata. I've never actually heard the second.

Neither have I.

Listening to it now on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... NkSIeKAUvo
If you think Bartok is percussive, listen to the outer movements of this one

no 2.: very well played and an interesting Bicinium with typical features of the beginning of the freetonal style.
no. 3: Bravo, I´m enthused! Very good playing with a lot of energy like it should be in these typical Ginastera-style. (I think, it´s a lot of fun to play this piece, isn´t it?)
no. 4: very nice playing. Like the first piece this has quite a lot of fourth and septh.
no. 5: super performance. This piece is based on the "pentatonische Tonleiter" (pentatonic scale? in English?).
no. 8: expressively played, may be at the end you could have used left pedal to achieve a real ppp.
no. 10: nicely and contemplatively played. IMO this piece has some jazzy elements.

It was interesting to meet these little pieces.

Thanks Andreas, glad you like them !
Actually I have just redone nos. 3 and 8.
No.3 has fewer mistakes, if still not squeaky clean. It's a tiring piece though, and the odd slip adds to the excitement
Then ending of no.8 is better now I think, at least no more missing note. I find it extremely difficult to play such a filigree run from pp to ppp.

Yes, both pieces sound more accurate and clear now, but for this no. 3 has lost just a grain of its storm and stress expression you had in your first version. But, of course, it´s a perfect rendition now! Congratulations!
Of course, it´s difficult to play a run from pp to ppp, that´s why a usually use the left pedal for such stupid things.

No it's not perfect, there are some misses and fumbled passages. But I think it's just as wild as the first version. Less stress, maybe

Hi Chris,

Had a listen to the Creole Dance, bravo! This makes me want to get up and dance

The sadness piece seemed a little slight to me (and this is coming from the composer of "The haunted house")

some nice playing here,

~Riley

Thanks Riley. Some of these preludes are a bit slight indeed, in the sense of being too short.

^ That's what I thought so too. Very well played pieces you have there. Good thing I was browsing on the threads that has some recordings in it. Great music.

Thanks for that !