Argentinian Songs

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Recorded in 1987, tenor Raúl Giménez presents a panorama of popular 20th-century songs by composers of his native Argentina. These songs have their roots in Argentinean folk-idioms and in the simple lyricism of country life, and most are written in popular style. The fresh, rustic harmonies of Buchardo complement the strongly rhythmic elements, reflecting popular dance rhythms that characterize the selections of Guastavino. This reverence for tradition is continued in the songs of Ginastera, with their clear references to fast dance rhythms.

Tracks:

Preludio a los Sonetos de Amor y Muerte
La rosa y el sauce
Se equivoco la paloma
El unico camino
Elegia para un gorrion
Campanilla, adonde vas?
Riqueza
Soneto 4
Anhelo
Caminito
Nocturno
Milonga
Cancion del arbol del olvido
Alfonsina y el mar
Cancion del carretero
Cancion de Perico
Adios Nonino
Desde el fondo de ti
Postal de guerra
Sonetos de Amor y Muerte

Amazon.com

So often, operatic crossover discs seem to be devised according to marketing surveys, with the star swooping into the recording studio between engagements with minimum thought or care. Jose Cura's first crossover disc, Anhelo, is quite the exception. The tenor not only sings but has orchestrated and conducted several numbers as well, which is only the most tangible evidence of the thought and feeling he's put into this. The emphasis is on ballads--which is only fitting for an album whose title means intense, suffocating desire--though there are also folk-like songs and instrumental cuts, one of which Cura composed himself in a neo-Puccinian style. Some of the songs have orchestrations, but the instrumentation is mostly spare: often acoustic guitar or piano and, in one cut, only solo voice. Cura may not have the most flexible instrument, yet he scales it down extremely well here. Clearly, this disc didn't just arise out of a career strategy but as a sincere desire to communicate. And it does. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews:

Mellow Magic.......2005-12-16

In this exquisite CD of Argentine music, you will not hear Jose Cura sing with the full power of his magnificent operatic voice, but rather with a gentle beauty that is captivating. He shows us his heart in these songs, and what he is capable of doing artistically as well as his commitment to excellence, beyond his career as an international opera superstar. The repertoire consists of music by 20th and 21st century composers: Cura himself (2 tracks), Carlos Guastavino (8), Carlos Lopez Buchardo (2), and Julian Aguirre, Alberto Muzzio, Jorge Cardozo, Alberto Ginastera, Ariel Ramirez, Astor Piazzolla, Hilda Herrera, and Maria Elena Walsh each contributing one selection apiece.

The arrangements (by Cura) and musicianship are superb, featuring the brilliant talents of Eduardo Delgado (piano) and Ernesto Bitetti (guitar). Cura also conducts, and also had a hand in the design of the booklet insert, which has terrific liner notes, recording info, and lyrics in Spanish, English and French. There are also lots of photographs, and one of Cura as a toddler at the piano that is priceless.

There are 4 instrumentals on the CD, and the transcription of Piazzolla's "Adios Nonino" for piano quintet is stupendous, and another big favorite is Ginastera's "Cancion del arbol del olvido." There is nostalgia, sweet simplicity, and a purity to this album that may not appeal to those who like their music always on full throttle, but it is rich with a depth of soul and emotion, and is a rare encounter in this age of sound overkill. Total playing time is 62'08.

Anhelo.......2001-11-20

I discovered Jose Cura through Sarah Brightman's "Time to Say Goodbye." What a find I made! This man has the most expressive voice. Full of emotion and grandure, but not to the point of being ridiculous.

"Anhelo" is the perfect introduction to this wonderful man's voice. It is traditional Argentine music. The first time I heard "La Rosa" I was literally crying by the time it was over. The production is not over the top. You can hear Jose, without fighting the orchestra. Even if you don't speak Spanish, you can understand what he's singing through the emotion he gives each song.

Where most operatic voices do not understand that not every song is an aria, Jose does. He, like Sarah Brightman, can sing the opera with the "pop." Pick up this CD, with the bath and wine ready!

A large voice sings small.......2001-06-01

Many opera singers cannot seem to make their voices fit small or popular-type songs. The great Placido Domingo's pop albums are all disappointing: overproduced and underfelt. Jose Cura, on the other hand, gives these small songs from his homeland a warm, heartfelt treatment. The spare, always apt accompaniment adds to the poetic quality of the whole. This CD is a treasure.

A Cura for Heartache.......1999-09-23

Musical wonderman José Cura conducts himself in this splendid collections of art songs from his native Argentina. Wrapping his big, rich, meltingly warm barti-tenor voice around each ballad of heartache and romantic longing, Cura beautifully conveys the emotion at the heart of the song; it's meaning comes clear even for us listeners who aren't up on our Spanish. Especially impressive are his top notes, which he deploys either forcefully or very soft and intimate, like a lover's whisper in one's ear. Superb support from Ernesto Bitetti and Eduardo Delgado on guitar and piano contribute to the aura of closeness surrounding this disc. Simply put, ANHELO is a beautiful album and one which deserves a place any serious music lover's collection. ¡Viva El Cura!

Jose Cura's voice is truly magnificent!.......1999-09-22

I bought this CD after I heard Jose on Sarah Brighman's "Time to Say Goodbye." His voice is always so powerful, yet sweet that moves the hearts of those who listen to his music. He has truly put his heart into this CD. His feelings about Argentina is clearly reflected in all the songs that he included on this CD. HE will be the greatest tenor!!! He has all the qualities that a truly great tenor should! Let's wait for Jose's career to shine like no one else's.

Average customer rating:

Nice repertory and singing, but give the girl some castanets

Canciones Amatorias

Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Brahms: Lieder
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Canciones Argentinas
Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs

ASIN: B0000682WC
Release Date: 2002-07-09

Tracks:

Granados: Descubrase el pensamiento
Granados: Mananica era
Granados: Llord, corazon, que teneis razon
Granados: Mira que soy nina
Granados: No lloreis, ojuelos
Granados: Iban al pinar
Granados: Gracia mia
Granados: Oh muerte cruel!
Granados: Ay! Majo de mi vida
Granados: De aquel majo amante
Rodrigo: Pastorcito santo
Rodrigo: Coplillas de Belen
Rodrigo: Por mayo era
Rodrigo: Adela
Rodrigo: Cancion del Duero
Nin: Asturiana
Nin: El pano murciano
Nin: El vito
Guastavino: La rosa y el sauce
Guastavino: Cita
Guastavino: La palomita
Ginastera: Cancion al arbol del olvido, Op. 3 No. 2
Ginastera: Chacarera
Ginastera: Triste
Ginastera: Zamba
Ginastera: Arrorro
Ginastera: Gato

Customer Reviews:

Nice repertory and singing, but give the girl some castanets.......2002-12-25

This recital was a mixed blessing. The program is well chosen. The music is exciting and alluring, accessible yet rare enough to be attractive to travelers along the byways of song. The performances are beautiful and thoughtful. Fink's tone is consistently attractive, her technique and ornamentation are impressive. But there are essential Spanish elements missing. Rhythms are not accented, with scarcely any rubato in evidence. She does not bite into her consonants or relish the typical Spanish sounds like "ll," "j," and "y." Part of the problem is in the foursquare playing of Roger Vignoles on the piano. In any case, the songs are captivating and Bernarda Fink's expressiveness is beautiful but undermined by this lack of flair. Though less effective than her debut art song recorded of Schumann Lieder on harmonia mundi, this remains nonetheless a record of lasting appeal.

The program is of love songs offered from the perspective of man, woman, and third person. This music is so rarely heard and worth hearing as to make the disc self-recommending. Spanish composers lean more toward collections than narrative cycles, and here we have some collections presented in full and some excerpted. Spanish art song conveys a rich bittersweetness, stretching the ear with tangy chromaticisms and veiled harmonies, their unsettling effect kept within bounds by recognizable rhythms, modulations, melismas, and other characteristic flourishes. Refined, yes, but never too distant from its popular variants.

The Granados collection that begin the disk has the first 5 songs rather centered on the pains of love, from different angles: deeply sympathetic narrator, a girl in the torments of young love, one man rueful, another wry and cynical. The last 2 songs move into more sanguine areas of the heart, the 6th a lighthearted folksong admiring young beauties at work, the 7th an exuberant transport in rhythms alternately propulsive and swaying. The Granados mini-cycle "La maja dolorosa" that follows is the best-known item in the program. Portraying three different women in grief, or perhaps a progression of grief in the same woman, the first song represents stark betrayal and disbelief; the second emerges somewhat, still distraught, dispossessed, drenched in desolate desire; in the third, bereavement gives way to a proud nostalgia.

The Rodrigo selection is astute: "Pastorcito santo" a haunting, gently lilting Christmas carol, "Coplillas de Belén" another carol with jazzy rhythms imparting the impatient joy of Christmas morning. "Por mayo era" starts with the heat of the day underscored by piano arpeggios (shifting neatly to depict a nightingale). The fullness of the scene is contrasted with the singer's desolation in the second verse, where the arpeggios now become fractured and acerbic. "Adele" is pure folksong, sad and plain in regard of the girl's demise for love, free of harmonic twists and other commentary. The set concludes with the vibrant and soaring "Cancion del Duero," with rustic images elevated by the rapture of joyous and world-embracing love, building to a thrilling final verse and a rousing sendoff.

The 3 Nin songs, while enjoyable, are more self-conscious in execution and the music a tad more bombastic. His arrangement of "El Vito" is too dense, not nearly as fun as Obridors's. "El pano murciano," about setting a kiss in silver, after a rather excessive piano introduction, does give into the simple whimsy of the verses.

The program ends with music of the singer's homeland, Argentina. Guastavino is very sentimental: "La rosa y el sauce" ("The Rose and the Willow") is a pensive elegy. "Cita" offers a charming scene of a lazy tryst. "La palomita" ("Little Dove") is in antique style. These are united expressively in a straightforward musical style. Ginastera is represented by a sensuous, sad tango "Canción al arbol del olvido" ("The Tree of Forgetting") and a collection of 5 popular songs. "Chacarera" is notable for its dense rhythms. "Triste" starts with slow arpeggios again depicting a dry landscape of the soul, the blankness pierced by the singer's stricken cries of "Ah!" "Arroró" is a lovely lullaby, with sharp insomniac harmonies and the long hours tolling in the piano layer. Ginastera's accompiments are restrained but inventive.

Though by rights this music ought to be close to home for her, what I found lacking here were musical traits that are distinctly Spanish -- the rhythmic verve, the bite of the consonants -- elements that would have given her performances greater personality. This is especially noticeable in the faster songs, where words are less distinguishable because of this weakness and accentuation of individual words doesn't come through. Berganza and De Los Angeles both have it -- you can compare their versions of "La maja dolorosa". Berganza's is on a 2-disk set on DG, De Los Angeles in a 4-disk compilation on EMI. Native qualities of De Los Angeles's voice, the inimitable blend of sweetness and sadness, give her an advantage in these songs. Her performance of the first features cor anglais accompaniment along with the piano, deepening the sorrowful effect. With this additional support, DLA takes a slower tempo resting on sturdy chest tones. The third song is underpinned by tentative staccato in the piano as the bereaved avows feelings and memories. Berganza is more confessional, but at times a tad lugubrious. Both have a piquancy to their voice that Fink lacks here. Even Margaret Price on an Orfeo disk of French and Spanish songs sounds no less authentic.

Tracks:

No. 1: Danza Del Viejo Boyero
No. 2: Danza De La Moza Donosa
No. 3: Danza Del Gaucho Matrero
Pequena Danza
No. 1: Accents
No. 2: Sadness
No. 3: Creole Dance
No. 4: Vidale
No. 5: In The First Pentatonic Minor Mode
No. 6: Tribute To Roberto Garcia Morillo
No. 7: Octaves
No. 8: Tribute To Juan Jose Castro
No. 9: Tribute To Aaron Copland
No. 10: Pastorale
No. 11: Tribute To Heitor Villa-Lobos
No. 12: In The First Pentatonic Major Mode
First Movement: Allegro Marcato
Second Movement: Presto Misterioso
Third Movement: Adagio Molto Appassionato
Fourth Movement: Ruvido Ed Ostinato
Pampeana No. 2, Op. 21 (Rhapsody For Cello & Piano)
Triste (Transc. Pierre Fournier)
First Movement: Allegro Deciso
Second Movement: Adagio Passionato
Third Movement: Presto Mormoroso
Fourth Movement: Allegro Con Fuoco

Customer Reviews:

Better than its current reputation.......2003-12-29

Portugheis plays slower than the competition. The musical substance doesn't suffer from this,however,because of the excellent,full bodied ASV recording.Ginastera's piano music represents more than a vehicle for virtuosic display of gaucho rhythms. For this reason, I find very fast tempi(Santiago Rodriguez)less idiomatic. With the addition of the Cello sonata and the Pampeana no.2 this disc offers two gems of modern chamber music, that you certainly do not want to miss. Gorgeous cello sound and playing ! If you hesitate about this disc, buy it for these two chamber music pieces.

Yawn.......2003-11-08

This Cd put me right to sleep. The pianst plays this weird rythym where he speeds up in some places and slows down in others irratically. The pianst for this album must have had trouble reading the music, because there aren't supposed to be any rests in random places. This is a fast dancing piece, hence the title: Danzas Argentinas! If you want a vison for this album, imagine a sprinter running the 400 meter dash. Suddenly the sprinter stops and walks a few paces. And then he speeds back up again, only to stop to tie his shoe. And so on. I would highly recommend another CD. Dude, Martha Argerich has an interpertation that will knock your socks off. Wahhhh!

I agree with the other reviewers!.......2002-07-30

I bought this album along with volume 2, and I have to agree with the other reviewers that it is a pretty disappointing album. I became interested in Ginastera's piano music when I heard GREAT recordings of the piano sonata no. 1 and the argentine dances. Not being a pianist myself, I still manage to notice the defectiveness in the music, mainly that it lacks the rhythmic vitality and speed that I believe the music requires to be exciting. However, I do think some of the recordings are not bad, such as the pequena danza and the american preludes. Overall, however, this isn't a great disc to buy of Ginastera. That is not to say that Portugheis is a bad pianist, I'm sure he does great with other music, just not this!

Lacks energy and rhythm.......1999-11-20

I bought this CD mostly because I wanted a good recording of the first Piano Sonata. I was disappointed. Portugheis seems to have misunderstood what Ginastera's music is all about-rhythmic vitality. In most of Ginastera's music, rhythmic drive is of primary importance and pitch (though still important) is secondary. Portugheis romanticizes the heck out of it. Often, the rhythms he plays are the result of technical (as opposed to musical) rubato, i.e. he doesn't have the technical command to play the damn thing. He stumbles through almost the entire piece. He turns 5/8 measures in 6/8's. A strict tempo rarely exists for long. When the rhythmic vitality is lost, the energy of the piece goes down the drain. If you want to hear a guy play Ginastera well, Santiago Rodriguez is your man. His level of energy will blow you away.

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Virtuoso Cello Transcriptions

Manufacturer: Cello Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005KBBQ
Release Date: 2001-05-29

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Mis Canciones Favorites

Manufacturer: Romeo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Isabel Bayrakdarian ~ Azulão

ASIN: B00004VWBQ
Release Date: 2000-07-25

Alberto Ginastera: Piano Music, Volume 3

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Alberto Ginastera: Piano Music, Volume 3

Manufacturer: Asv Living Era
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quintets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Ginastera: The Complete Piano Music & Chamber Music with Piano, Vol. 2
Alberto Ginastera: The Complete Piano Music, Vol. 1

ASIN: B0000030V0
Release Date: 1994-08-23

Tracks:

Dos Canciones, Op.3: Cancion Al Arbol Del Olvido
Dos Canciones, Op.3: Cancion A La Luna Lunanca
Cinco Canciones Populares Argentinas, Op.10: Chacarera
Cinco Canciones Populares Argentinas, Op.10: Triste
Cinco Canciones Populares Argentinas, Op.10: Zamba
Cinco Canciones Populares Argentinas, Op.10: Arrorro
Cinco Canciones Populares Argentinas, Op.10: Gato
Las Horas De Una Estancia, Op.11: El Alba
Las Horas De Una Estancia, Op.11: La Manana
Las Horas De Una Estancia, Op.11: El Mediodia
Las Horas De Una Estancia, Op.11: La Tarde
Las Horas De Una Estancia, Op.11: La Noche
Pampeana No.1, Op.16 (Rhap)
Qnt, Op.29: No.1: Introduzione
Qnt, Op.29: No.2: Cadenze I Per Viola E Violoncello
Qnt, Op.29: No.3: Scherzo Fantastico
Qnt, Op.29: No.4: Cadenze II Per Due Violini
Qnt, Op.29: No.5: Piccola Musica Notturna
Qnt, Op.29: No.6: Cadenza III Per Pianoforte
Qnt, Op.29: No.7: Finale

Amazon.com

I love Ginastera's Piano Quintet, a wonderful piece of big, exciting chamber music that belongs completely to the 20th century (composed in 1963) but shouldn't scare anyone who enjoys Bartók. This is only the second recording of the piece I have encountered and the first one never was transferred from LP to CD, so this disc is almost automatically worth having. The songs are early and folklike, very flavorful and nicely sung, and if you have great eyesight you can even read the Spanish-English texts in the booklet. A thoroughly wonderful disc and a major contribution to the Ginastera discography. --Leslie Gerber

Phyllis Curtin In Recital - Sibelius Festival, 1963

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Phyllis Curtin In Recital - Sibelius Festival, 1963

Manufacturer: Video Artists Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Russian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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A Boffo!

Songs of Many Lands

Manufacturer: Testament
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Customer Reviews:

A Boffo!.......2005-07-22

I own this recording and it is simply great! Simple as that. This was recorded during the prime of Mr. Souzay's long career and he was in great voice. What is remarkable is not only his mastery of the different languages involved, but how he gives such meaning and clarity to each song presented. He sings here in a multitude of languages, not just French, German and Italian, but also Gaelic, Swedish, Russian, and a host of others. He interprets each song to masterful effect, from the
"Om dagen vid mit arbete," and "Savishna," to "I'm Goin' Away." Anyone who loves good music will be delighted with this
recording, because Mr. Souzay is an artist of the highest order.
Hey! What are you waiting for? Go on and buy it!
Cheers!
Doug Barnett-