Intermediate piano music – Latin American Music for the Piano

Ginastera’s Milonga: a rare, beautiful piece, now available in the US

First page of Ginastera's Milonga. Published by Melos, Argentina

I bet you don’t know this piece by this major Latin American composer. Milonga is an arrangement, made by Ginstera himself, of his song CanciÃ³n al Arbol del Olvido (Song to the Tree of Forgetfulness). Ginastera wrote this original song, with verses of Silva Valdes, in 1938, as his Opus 3. I’m not sure when he arranged it for piano solo – but we pianists are surely thankful that he did! It is a delicate, enchanting short piece based on the slow Milonga genre, a type of song attributed to the gaucho (Argentine cowboy), who used to sing it while accompanying himself on the guitar. The original song became a quick hit in Argentina, and several folk singers adopted it – see for instance this version by the Chilean activist/singer Victor Jara.

The charming lyrics of the original song describe the story of a gaucho who wanted to forget an unrequited love. He hears about a magical tree – those who fall asleep under it forget their troubles when they wake up. He goes there, falls asleep, but when he wakes up he realizes with bittersweet disappointment that he still remembers her. What happened? Instead of forgetting her, he “forgot to forget her.”

The piano arrangement follows the song almost verbatim. From a pedagogical point of view it is a great piece to work out cross-rhythms: the left hand keeps a constant rhythm based on 16th notes, while the right hand uses 8th note triplets pervasively. Quite a challenge for an intermediate student!

Listen to my version of Milonga:

Until recently it was very difficult to obtain this piece, as it was only available in Argentina. I recently found out that Elkin Music has it in their catalog, along with a few other pieces by Ginastera (Malambo and Tres Piezas) that were also published by Melos/Ricordi Argentina. You can order these pieces here.

Happy playing!

Rondo on Argentine Children’s Folk Tunes

Avignon Bridge. From http://www.poreuropa.com

Alberto Ginastera wrote his “RondÃ³ sobre temas infantiles argentinos” (Rondo on Argentine Children’s Folk Tunes) in 1947. It is his opus 19, and his last “non-Sonata” piano solo piece. It has become one of his most often-taught Â pieces at the intermediate level in the US, along with some of his American Preludes op. 12 and the Danza de la Moza Donosa op. 2. The Rondo is dedicated to his two children, Georgina and Alex. I believe Ginastera had in mind a young performer. While Â his strong stylistic trademarks can still be found Â in this piece, the Rondo is far removed from the relentless and often taxing energy of his fast toccata-like pieces (e.g. Danza del Gaucho Matrero, or the Coda of his Creole Dances). This charming and mischievous 3-minute Â piece has a lot of humor and lightness to it Â (almostÂ alla Poulenc), a trait not often found in Ginastera’s music, which tends to be intense and concentrated.

As far as I can tell Ginastera used four children tunes in this Rondo: Sobre el puente de avignon (On the bridge of Avignon – see picture of this French bridge to the left) for the refrain, Palomita ingrata (Ungrateful dove), Yo no soy buenamoza (I’m not a good-looking girl) and a snippet of En coche va una niÃ±a (A girl is riding a carriage) for the episodes. On the bridge of Avignon is a well-known tune not only in Argentina, but in the rest of Latin America. You can see and hear performances of Palomita ingrata and En coche va un niÃ±a by the Argentine children author and musician Luis Pescetti, who currently lives in Mexico.

To find out exactly where these tunes start in the piece, watch my YouTube performance of the Rondo:

(Apologies for the LH misreading in 0:15)

From a pedagogical point of view, the Rondo is a great teaching piece. Many hispanic students in the US will recognize these tunes. The piece contains many contrasting moods. With its beautifully modal harmony, brilliant scalar passage work and the exciting bi-tonal closing, it works very well for recitals and competitions.

The Rondo is published by Boosey and Hawkes. Purchase this piece with a discount at SheetMusicPlus.com:

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Rondo on Argentine Children’s Folk Tunes
Composed by Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983). For Piano (Piano). BH Piano. 8 pages. Boosey & Hawkes #M051281244. Published by Boosey & Hawkes (HL.48002613).

Passion, color, charm: recent piano works by Luis Jorge Gonzalez

Luis Jorge Gonzalez is a compatriot of mine. He was born in San Juan, Argentina, in 1936. Coincidentally, Luis Jorge studied piano and composition at the same university where I got my first undergraduate degree in piano – the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, in Mendoza, Argentina. Luis Jorge came to the US in the 1970s to study composition at the Peabody Conservatory. He taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder from the 1980s until 2003, when he retired. You can read about his distinguished career on wikipedia (in Spanish for now): http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Jorge_GonzÃ¡lez.

I met Mr. Gonzalez in person in 2004 when I was hired to teach piano and pedagogy at CU Boulder. We had much in common – expatriates born in the same region of Argentina, educated in the same music school there, and a passion for everything Argentine. I had heard about his illustrious career when I was in Ohio at my previous teaching job. So it was a pleasure to finally meet him. For my first recital at CU, I asked Luis Jorge if he had any music Continue reading Passion, color, charm: recent piano works by Luis Jorge Gonzalez

“Seven Pieces for Children” and “Music for Children” by Luis Gianneo

Luis Gianneo is one of the “best kept secrets” of Argentine music. His piano music is original and solid, and the overall quality of his creations is high. He wrote well for the piano – his pieces are comfortable for the most part and fun to play. He published mostly at the defunct Editorial Argentina de Musica. Some of his works have been republished by Peer Music International.

In a previous article in this blog, I focused on Juan JosÃ© Castro and his 1941 Tangos for piano. Gianneo belonged to the same generation of composers – he was born in 1897 and died the same year as Castro, 1968. Like Castro, Gianneo was also interested in writing nationalistic music using a more modern, dissonant and universal style that avoided the cliches and “postcard” approach of some of the earlier Romantic composers in Latin America. This modern nationalistic movement sprouted throughout Latin America from the late 1920s until the end of the 1940s or mid 1950s. Often, these Latin American composers knew and respected each other’s music. Throughout these years there was some sort of “continental awareness” and synergy that produced, from my point of view, some of the most interesting classical music in the history of Latin America.

Gianneo, like many of his colleagues, was attracted to some of the tenets of neoclacissism: use of a “spikier” tonality with plenty of 4ths and major 7ths, politonality, non-functional harmony, bimodality, 2-voice counterpoint, etc. But at the same time he made use of vital and driving rhythmic energy and ostinatos based on folk dances that remind me of Ginastera, 19 years younger than Gianneo. In fact I truly believe that Ginastera’s exciting and driving style owes a lot to the style developed by Gianneo.

Gianneo’s piano output is pretty large. You can find a catalog at http://ostinato.tripod.com/giaworks.html . My favorite pieces include his “Sonata No. 2,” “Suite,” “Tres Danzas Argentinas” and the children pieces that are the subject of this article. Marco Polo released his complete piano works in 2002, recorded by myself and other Argentine pianists, members of the now extinct Ostinato Foundation. These CDs are available through amazon.com and other vendors.

“Seven Children Pieces” (1946) are at the late elementary difficulty level, and “Music for Children” (1941, with a total of 10 pieces) is at the early and mid intermediate levels. These sets have great pedagogical value, and are, at the same time, very charming and effective. They don’t sound like “teaching pieces”, but are sophisticated little gems.

The “Seven Children Pieces” are written in a very tonal language, with only a few dissonances, so as to make them more accessible to younger ears. Children (or adults!) should be able to play the easier ones during their second or third year of piano studies. Among the pieces is “Tango,” which uses a limited range of notes. It introduces sound pedagogical features such as dotted rhythms and melody in the left hand in the middle section, which allows students to work on balance and projection of both hands. It is evident that Gianneo knew how to compose excellent teaching pieces! You can listen to an excerpt of this Tango here (recording by Dora DeMarinis, from the Marco Polo release).

Tango
Tango

Another piece in the “Seven Pieces” set is “Danza Campesina” (“Rustic Dance”). This piece features a hemiola typical of Latin American folk music: the rhythm of the right hand sounds in 6/8, while the left hand sounds in 3/4. Another rhythmic challenge of this piece is the use of syncopation in the right hand in the second system. The piece is great for working on an energetic non-legato articulation produced from the forearm with fingers close to the keys. This articulation, sometimes called “martellato” (“hammered”) is necessary in many other compositions by Gianneo, and also Bartok and Ginastera. You can listen to an excerpt of Danza Campesina here (recording by Dora DeMarinis from the Marco Polo release).

Rustic Dance

The first two pieces in “Music for Children,” Prelude and Fugue, are the most difficult and dissonant of the set. The Prelude is loosely based on the broken chords of Bach’s popular Prelude in C major from the Well-Tempered Clavier book 1, but written “upside-down.” The fugue uses a folk theme. The rest of the set includes easier gems such as “Indian Lullaby,” “The juggler” and “Little Dance Song.”

Indian Lullaby (excerpt from the Marco Polo release, Pervez Mody, piano)

Indian Lullaby

“Seven Pieces for Children” and “Music for Children” are printed by Peer Music International and are available at a discounted price here:

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7 Piezas Infantiles
(Easy Piano Solo). By Luis Gianneo (1897-1968). For Piano. Peermusic Classical. Easy. Softcover. 16 pages. Peermusic #61110-501. Published by Peermusic (HL.228109).

Astor Piazzolla – Verano PorteÃ±o and other tangos

For the last four or five years, I’ve been doing presentations on music by Latin American classical composers in several venues in the US. The audience for these presentations has usually been teachers interested in teaching Latin American music in their private studios, or pianists who want to explore it. This blog is, in fact, a product of my presentations.

I remember clearly the first time I presented this material in front of a group of eager teachers in southern Ohio. For one long hour, I talked about and played pieces by most of the luminaries of Latin American classical music: Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Chavez, Castro… At the end of my presentation, one of the teachers raised her hand and asked: “can you now play a ‘real’ tango, like some Piazzolla, please?” I was embarrassed to admit that I did not have any Piazzolla in my presentation at that point! In fact, including Piazzolla in my repertoire had not crossed my mind until then. You may ask why I had totally ignored a composer who invariably causes a deep impression in classically- and non-classically-trained listeners? A composer who is equally admired and played by tango and jazz musicians, and more recently, cross-over classical performers such as Barenboim, Gidon Kremer and Yo-Yo Ma? After some reflection I realized my omission had to do with my Argentine classical training. You see, Piazzolla, in the 1980s, was not highly regarded in Argentine classical music conservatories. He had two “shortcomings”: first, he was Argentine (conservatories there tended to over-value the three German “Bs” and Chopin, and to devalue most things written on this side of the Atlantic, with some notable exceptions); second, he was a tango musician, for God’s sake, a TANGO musician! Tango, as in “POPULAR MUSIC’s tango,” not worthy of the classical stage. Well, this lady made me realize that maybe I was wrong. I quickly started looking for some good Piazzolla to add to my presentations and my concerts. People loved it.

The main problem that faces classically trained pianists when tackling Piazzolla’s music is that the printed versions of the pieces are arrangements or transcriptions of works that existed first as “sound” for a very particular ensemble of instruments, flexible in their genesis just like jazz. If you hear Piazzolla’s recordings you’ll realize that, like jazz, the pieces owe much to the spurt of the moment, the musicians who play them, and the place where they are played. This means that some of the arrangements you can buy nowadays sound somewhat awkward and contrived. Some are too “thin” and unconvincing, while others are just plain impossible to play, since they include many layers of sound, for which you would need 3 or more hands. For some of these pieces you need to use common sense and intuition to make them work at the piano.

There are some great Piazzolla piano pieces at the intermediate and early advanced levels. Some of these pieces include:

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (Cuatro Estaciones PorteÃ±as), especially the rhythmic and captivating “Verano PorteÃ±o,” or Summer of Buenos Aires, which works very well with some minimal tinkering (listen to my performance below)
The set Angel, which includes Milonga del Angel, a gorgeous slow milonga at the intermediate level that will enthrall students and audiences alike with its sophisticated harmonies and slow, hypnotic melodies
Retrato de Alfredo Gobbi, or Portrait of Alfredo Gobbi, a lesser known, fantasy-like tango with many mood changes and daring harmonies
Adios Nonino, a fast and exciting classic tango

There are MANY other sets that I encourage you to explore.

You can hear an excerpt of my live performance of “Verano PorteÃ±o” (Summer of Buenos Aires) here: veranoexcerpt.mp3. Also watch me play Milonga del Angel (apologies for the wrong notes!)

Verano PorteÃ±o (excerpt), published by Tonos.

Buy any of these tangos on SheetMusicPlus.com by clicking at these links:

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Verano Porteno
Composed by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). For piano. Tango. Published by Melos Ediciones Musicales (QM.MEL-1034).

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Angel
Composed by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). For Piano. Tango. Collection. Published by Tonos Music (TO.20001).

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Retrato de Alfredo Gobbi
Composed by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). For piano. Tango. Published by Melos Ediciones Musicales (QM.MEL-1388).

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Astor Piazzolla for Piano
Composed by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). For Piano/Keyboard. Hal Leonard Piano Solo. Latin and Argentina. Difficulty: medium-difficult. Instrumental solo book. Introductory text. 64 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.306709).

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Astor Piazzolla – El Viaje
(15 tangos and other pieces Piano). Composed by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). For Piano. BH Piano. Softcover. 32 pages. Boosey & Hawkes #M060119620. Published by Boosey & Hawkes (HL.48019906).

Watch Piazzolla himself playing “Milonga del Angel” at this YouTube video:

“La comparsa” and “MalagueÃ±a” by Ernesto Lecuona

You are hanging around, sitting outside a Cuban cafe in Havana in the 1930s, sipping a cold mint tea sweetened with sugar cane juice, enjoying the lethargic hours of the tropical evening. Suddenly you hear a faint drum, beating a hypnotic pattern. It’s slowly getting closer to you. You know there will be consequences. This sensuous Afro-Cuban music is hard to ignore. It takes over your body.

As the music draws near, you realize it’s a Carnival procession, with drums, singing and masked, colorful dancers. It slowly engulfs you with its contagious rhythms, captures you in the midst of the buoyant crowd, and then, gradually goes away, until the only thing you can hear is the faint sound of the drum, droning away its syncopated pattern. You go back to enjoying your drink and the scented humid air.

This is exactly how Lecuona’s piano composition “La comparsa” feels to me. This 3-minute piece starts quietly in the left hand — an “imitation of a drum” reads the score. A haunting, distant melody enters in the right hand. Gradually things get heated, with octaves and more syncopations in both hands. The piece fades away back to the original left hand pattern and ends quietly.

The piece is one of Lecuona’s best known. Originally it contained lyrics, but there are many instrumental versions. It has been adapted and transcribed into many settings. Musicians as diverse as Eddie Palmieri, Chucho Valdez, Manuel Barrueco, Placido Domingo and Carlos Barbosa-Lima have recorded it.

The Cuban composer, pianist and child prodigy Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963) was trained as a classical musician, but quickly became interested in Cuban and Spanish rhythms. He made a career in the semi-classical world of Zarzuelas (Spanish operetas), and was also a successful Hollywood movie composers — he was nominated for an Oscar for his “Always in My Heart” in 1942, which lost against “White Christmas” by Irvin Berlin.

Lecuona is best known for his “MalagueÃ±a” for piano (please check this link for the correct pronunciation of this word, which is mispronounced 99% of the time in the US!!!). “MalagueÃ±a” is a piece that unfailingly fascinates enthusiastic teenage piano students looking for exciting and flashy “Spanish” repertoire. Unfortunately for their teachers, “MalagueÃ±a” is a very difficult piece that not many young pianists can handle!

“MalagueÃ±a” definitely sounds Spanish and Andalusian – not Cuban at all. Regrettable, Lecuona’s other Cuban compositions are not as well known as this Spanish-style piece – they deserve to be played more often. He wrote many pieces within the technical reach of intermediate teenage pianists. “La comparsa” belongs to one such sets, Danzas Afro Cubanas, or Afro-Cuban Dances. Other exciting pieces in this set: Danza Lucumi and Danza de los Nanigos.

Buy it at SheetMusicPlus.com:

Danzas Afro-Cubanas Piano Solo. By Ernesto Lecuona. Piano. Size 9×12 inches. 24 pages. Published by Marks. (9248)
See more info…

I also recommended a collection that contains all his piano works (including MalagueÃ±a and La comparsa) in one volume of 192 pages.

Buy it a SheetMusicPlus.com:

Ernesto Lecuona: Ernesto Lecuona Piano Music Composed by Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963). Collection for solo piano. 192 pages. Published by Edward B. Marks Music. (HL.220002)
See more info…

Like the lyrics of “La comparsa” say: this music will “engage your whole body with its harmonious and sensuous rhythm, and will give you shivers with its magical sounds.”

Take a look at Thomas Tirino playing “La comparsa” (YouTube video)

“Odeon” by Ernesto Nazareth

Ernesto Nazareth was a Brazilian pianist and composer born in Rio de Janeiro in 1863. He died in 1934. Described as the “true incarnation of the Brazilian musical soul” by his compatriot Heitor Villa-Lobos, Nazareth composed and published more than 200 short piano compositions with strong popular flavor. Of these, 88 are tangos, many of which are still popular in Brazil and the rest of the world.

Nazareth was an impressive sight-reader and improviser. He was hired by a music store in Rio to play music for customers interested in buying sheet music. He was also hired as a pianist at the Odeon movie theater around 1924 to play in the waiting room.

The tango “Odeon” was probably written around that time. It is one of the best known tangos he composed. You can hear it not only in the original piano version, but also in guitar and other arrangements (you can find some of them in the iTunes store).

“Odeon” –and Nazareth’s music in general– can be a powerful motivator for intermediate piano students who have become “burned” by traditional repertoire. I remember a junior recital at the University of Minnesota during my student years that included a set of 3 or 4 tangos, performed by an Asian student. She liked this music so much that it truly was the best thing she performed that day!

Buy it here:

Ernesto Nazareth: Brazilian Tangos and Dances Composed by Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934), edited by David P. Appleby. Collection for solo piano. Series: Alfred Masterworks Editions. 40 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.16775)
See more info…

I think Odeon’s beauty is the result of the happy combination of many elements: a perfect balance of “saudade” (nostalgic feeling) with upbeat rhythms, a long and expansive left hand melody in the refrain, “jazzy” harmonies in the right hand, and a slight touch of “Tico Tico” and Camen Miranda in the last episode (maybe?).

There are other tangos besides “Odeon” that an intermediate student can handle well. To name two of the most popular: “Remando” and “Brejeiro” (which sounds suspiciously similar to Milhaud’s Scaramouche, composed later).

A tip: don’t play these tangos too fast. Remember that this music also has a big deal of nostalgia (ask any Brazilian!). Just watch the video (in Portuguese) of composer Francisco Mignone. Mignone met Nazareth at the music store where the older composer played for customers. The young and enthusiastic Mignone jumped at the piano and played “Brejeiro” for the composer at a dashing tempo. Nazareth response: “that’s not how you should play it!” and played it for him slower, more clearly and more singingly. Nazareth then told him that performers often ruined his music by playing it too fast.

Mignone on Nazareth (video on YouTube):

“Odeon” is in the public domain. You can download a free copy at the International Music Score Library Project.

If you want to buy good anthologies of his Tangos, Alfred Publications has a good compilation of 10 or 15 pieces (Brazilian Tangos and Dances. Van Nuys: Alfred, 1997). Also check A Collection of his Finest Piano Works. San Francisco: GSP, [no date] on Amazon.

-Alejandro Cremaschi