Biography (read more)

Alberto Ginastera was an Argentine composer of the twentieth century, born in Buenos Aires to a Spanish father and an Italian mother. He studied and taught in Buenos Aires, spent 1945–47 in the United States studying with Aaron Copland, and settled in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1970 until his death. His output spans orchestral works, ballets, operas, concertos for piano, violin, cello, and harp, chamber music, and piano sonatas, often drawing on Argentine folk and gauchesco traditions across three broad stylistic periods he termed Objective Nationalism, Subjective Nationalism, and Neo-Expressionism. He died in Geneva in 1983.

Ginastera is regarded as one of the most important twentieth-century composers of the Americas, his fusion of Argentine folk idioms with modernist and avant-garde techniques having shaped a distinctly national concert tradition. He was an influential teacher whose students included Ástor Piazzolla, and his concertos and ballets remain staples of Latin American repertoire performed by orchestras worldwide.

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Repertoire

Violin Concerto, Op. 30: IIIa. Scherzo pianissimo
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Performed by Hilary Hahn

Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: I. Danza del viejo boyero— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: II. Danza de la moza donosa— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: III. Danza del gaucho matrero— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: I. Danza del viejo boyero (Animato e allegro)— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: II. Danza de la moza donosa (Dolcemente espressivo)— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: III. Danza del gaucho matrero (Furiosamente ritmico e energico)— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Estancia, Op. 8a: I. Los trabajadores agricolas— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Estancia, Op. 8a: II. Danza del Trigo— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Estancia, Op. 8a: III. Los Peones de Hacienda— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Estancia, Op. 8a: IV. Danza Final (Malambo)— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Guitar Sonata, Op. 47: I. Esordio— Marcin Dylla
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Performed by Marcin Dylla

Guitar Sonata, Op. 47: II. Scherzo— Marcin Dylla
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Performed by Marcin Dylla

Guitar Sonata, Op. 47: III. Canto— Marcin Dylla
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Performed by Marcin Dylla

Guitar Sonata, Op. 47: IV. Finale— Marcin Dylla
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Performed by Marcin Dylla

3 Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: No. 2. Danza de la moza donosa— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

3 Danzas argentinas, Op. 2: No. 2, Danza de la moza donosa (Live)— Martha Argerich
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Performed by Martha Argerich

Ginastera: Canción al arbol del olvido, Op. 3 No. 2— Bernarda Fink
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Performed by Bernarda Fink

Ginastera: 5 Canciones populares argentinas, Op. 10: No. 1, Chacarera— Bernarda Fink
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Performed by Bernarda Fink

Ginastera: 5 Canciones populares argentinas, Op. 10: No. 2, Triste— Bernarda Fink
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Performed by Bernarda Fink

Ginastera: 5 Canciones populares argentinas, Op. 10: No. 3, Zamba— Bernarda Fink
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Performed by Bernarda Fink

Ginastera: 5 Canciones populares argentinas, Op. 10: No. 4, Arrorró— Bernarda Fink
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Performed by Bernarda Fink

Ginastera: 5 Canciones populares argentinas, Op. 10: No. 5, Gato— Bernarda Fink
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Performed by Bernarda Fink