Pampeana No. 2, Op. 21
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1950
- Duration
- 9'
- Publisher
- Boosey & Hawkes
Purchase or download
About this piece
Alberto Ginastera's Pampeana No. 2, subtitled "Rhapsody for cello and piano," is the second of three works the composer devoted to the Argentine pampas, between Pampeana No. 1 for violin and piano and the orchestral Pampeana No. 3. IRCAM's catalogue gives the dedication as "à Edmund Kurtz et Aurora Nátola-Ginastera" and records the premiere on 8 May 1950 at the Asociación Wagneriana in Buenos Aires, by cellist Aurora Nátola (who married Ginastera in 1971) with pianist Donato Colacelli. A 1996 Fundación Juan March programme note describes it as a compressed "mini-concerto" for two instruments: an opening cadenza leads into an Allegro, a second brief cadenza links to a Lento ed esaltato, and the closing Allegro vivace uses the popular rhythms of the pampas in gaucho style. A Shenandoah Conservatory note describes the opening as "a dramatic proclamation from the cello, punctuated by sharp, bell-like chords in the piano." It has been recorded by Mark Kosower with pianist Jee-Won Oh and was in Carlos Prieto's recital repertoire. Boosey & Hawkes publishes the cello-and-piano edition, with the cello part edited by Aurora Nátola-Ginastera; orchestral arrangements by Mario di Bonaventura and Roberto Duarte are available on hire.
Technical overview
One continuous movement of about nine minutes in three sections (cadenza – Allegro; cadenza – Lento ed esaltato; Allegro vivace). It calls for two free, rhetorical solo cadenzas, a sustained lyrical slow section, and a driving, rhythmically percussive gaucho-dance finale across the full range of the instrument; Boosey & Hawkes rates it "Advanced +".