Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas

Ginastera's most popular piano work, recorded this evening. All three pieces are the first take, unusual for me. Retakes were tiresome, and did not have the groove of the initial performances. Perfection eludes me as always, particularly in the Danza del gaucho matrero but I feel pretty good about these renditions. I hope that you do too!


Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas I: Danza del viejo boyero

Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas II: Danza de la moza donosa

Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas III: Danza del gaucho matrero

 

Whoo ! That is great stuff ! You were sure in the right mood for this. Very powerful and driving playing, and great sonority. The ending of no.1 is delicious, as is the climax of no.2.

Some road accidents in no.3 but ok, it's a real killer, and actually the couple of missses add to the excitement. Nobody should expect their Ginastera pristine and clean, and it's best to throw caution to the wind and take any mistake in your stride. The only thing I do object to is the unevenness of the opening bars of no.3. That surely needs to be more precisely together if it's not to sound murky.

Still, easily the best playing I've heard from you Chase, in terms of commitment and enthousiasm.

 

Whoa, wonderful playing Mr. Chase. Are you sure that this was a one-off recording session?

 

Indeed, most people go to auto races to see the crash! :lol:

In pieces like #3 there's no choice. As I said I'm not entirely happy with that one but this was the best I could do under the circumstances. And now the excuse; this was recorded on a newly rebuilt piano, and the action is very heavy, making that passage rather more difficult than it is. But it seems that the musical impact outweighs that flaw, and that is the most important thing. Next time...
:wink:

Probably the best playing period, although that muffled "Voiles" is good too. I will rerecord that, maybe very soon! Thanks everyone for the positive feedback, affirming my new "what the hell, damn the torpedoes full speed ahead" approach to things. Monica, you can listen to #2 all you want!

 

I did a session a week ago, and the results were good but rather tame compared to this; in that session, the 2nd and 6th takes of both boyero and donosa were the good ones, and matrero didn't fly. Last night I just went in with a "okay let's do this" attitude and the first takes were the good ones. After two more takes of each piece (one for matrero) I was getting calculated and stale, and decided to bag it and post these. As for matrero, there's always next time...

 

Spectacular sense of musical style and control... I felt like I was in Buenos Aires again!

 

Nice! Sounds like you have a very good grasp of the character of the 3rd dance, and you certainly have the "chops" for it! I also really enjoyed the 2nd dance. You could probably get away with more rubato throughout, but you play it expressively nonetheless. Happy that I'm not the only one to play the ending very slowly and deliberately.

Thanks for sharing your recordings.

~Adrienne

 

I'm late to the party but hot damn, this is fabulous. Put a smile on my face and all that. Wonderfully done.