Ocho Preludios

Ocho Preludios for piano was commissioned by Jovanni-Rey de Pedro to include it in this recording dedicated to the music of Ginastera and motivated by the centennial of the composer’s birth. De Pedro’s request regarding this commission was that the new work should include some pedagogical pieces and have some type of connection with Ginastera’s own 12 American Preludes, a set of short pieces written around specific musical features (accents, octaves, the pentatonic major mode) and characters (pastoral, sadness), folkloric rhythms from Argentina (Vidala, Creole Dance), and tributes to other composers (like Castro, Copland, and Villa-Lobos).

These preludes show a variety of influences and styles that have been present in my music for a long time. Espejo Imperfecto (Imperfect Mirror), the first one of the preludes, creates a sort of “spectral mirror” in which the image is distorted by the broken synchronicity. The piece is dedicated to Argentine composer Mariano Etkin. The second prelude uses the acciaccaturas (or quick notes) as accents in order to create multiple layers out of an otherwise simple line.  Raices represents the “European connection” in the set as it presents rhythmic gestures and intervals that are often found in the music of Italian composer Franco Donatoni, to whom the piece is dedicated. Night Angels attempts to create sound masses out of which polyrhythmic lines appear and it is dedicated to composer Lawrence Moss. Prelude V has a geographic reference in its title (At The Foothill Of The Andes) and it presents a very delicate, light character, which one might connect with the air and the pristine water found high in those mountains, which is however contrasted by a hefty middle section. The sixth piece is the set is dedicated to music researcher and pedagogue Silvia Malbrán and it shows an obvious connection to Argentine folk rhythms. Paralelas was written at the request of de Pedro and it is clearly in Ginasterian style. The last prelude attempts to establish a connection to Triste (one of Ginastera’s 12 Preludios Americanos) in the character and it is dedicated to the composer himself.  

MG