Music of the Americas Features Guastavino’s Vocal Works

In honor of Carlos Guastavino, one of Argentina’s most popular composers, Music of the Americas featured a performance of the famed Argentine’s songs on September 14. Sopranos Virginia Herrera-Crilly and Brenda Feliciano along with pianist Pablo Zinger brought the composer’s music to life. The evening featured a program entirely of Guastavino’s vocal music, and the ensemble introduced a packed house to the lush romanticism of the composer’s songs.

With over 500 compositions, Guastavino’s music—his vocal compositions in particular —have been celebrated throughout the classical music world, performed by artists ranging from pianist Martha Argerich to tenor José Carreras. Guastavino’s style and approach to music differed greatly from his contemporaries. His compositions sought to create beautiful melodies accessible to all rather than partake in the intellectual movement of his time, as Guastavino explained:

“I compose music because I love it. I love the melody, I love singing. I've learned, with pleasure, that there is an audience out there very interested in my music. I refuse to compose music only meant to be discovered and understood by future generations.”

Among the works performed on the concert were four of the composer’s song cycles: Cuatro canciones argentinas, Siete canciones de Rafael Alberti, Los ríos de la mano, and Cuatro canciones coloniales. The first cycle featured a staple of Guastavino’s repertoire: Argentine folk melodies. The composer adapted each tune into a new piece yet still stayed true to the musical tradition of his home country. The second song cycle showcased the poetry of the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti. Guastavino met Alberti met after the poet fled Spain and emigrated to Argentina during the Spanish Civil War. The third song cycle on the program featured the poetry of fellow Argentine José Pedroni. This work draws a stark contrast from the rest of the music featured in that Pedroni’s poetry focuses on everyday things, such as household objects. For example, in the first song Plancha the poet transforms a coal iron into a coal-powered ship:

It was like a traveling coal-powered ship.
It traveled by the hand of a helmsman angel.
The sea was a table. The table was made of pine.
The waves were white or navy blue. 

In the final two stanzas the poet transforms the household tool into an experience filled with sadness and pain:

How lonely that traveling, coal-powered
iron, that warmed up the feet of the angel of
expectation. It never tired of traveling.
But one day it got lost in the fog.
We saw that it didn’t return.

It left its protecting shadow engraved by fire.
It’s on the big table, where we eat and weep.

Guastavino captures this sentiment with lush romantic melody and harmony revealing the poet’s strife through melodic phrasing.

The final song cycle of the program featured the poetry of Léon Benarós, a poet whose work is featured predominately in Guastavino’s songs. Benarós’s poetry focuses on the simple, country life and draws from everyday situations. The sentiments in each of the four songs vary from jovial to mournful, and Guastavino’s harmonic and melodic language echo the poetry.

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Visit the Watch and Listen page for photos and audio from this concert and others through the season.