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GINASTERA: Panambi (complete ballet) – Piano Concerto No. 2 – Manchester Chamber Choir – BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena – Chandos

by Audiophile Audition | Feb 23, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Exciting, atmospheric and complex orchestral music from South America. GINASTERA:  Panambi (complete ballet) – Piano Concerto No. 2 – Manchester Chamber Choir – BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena – Chandos 10923, 69:07 ****: The music on this disc represents the early and late music of one of the most influential South American composers of the 20th century, Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983). The ballet Panambi (1934-36), represents his early blend of Argentinian folk music with his own nationalistic style – using polytonality, and pounding rhythms. It’s both thrilling and atmospheric. But in the 1950s Ginastera came under the influence of the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg and Webern) and his music became “neo-expressionistic.” He integrated 12-tone and serial techniques with dramatic, ritualistic and expressive effects, while maintaining the earlier characteristics of ostinato (repetition of phrases). The Piano Concerto No. 2 is a good example of his later style. Audiophiles are familiar with the suite from Panambi, but this is the first recording of the complete ballet. It was an astonishing debut for the young composer and the popular music to the ballet Estancia followed in 1941. When Ginastera heard a performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in 1918, he commented, “The primitivism of the […]