Ginastera: Popol Vuh and other orchestral works

A break from Debussy's delicate watercolours (or pen drawings) with Alberto Ginastera's cartoonish works for orchestra. I hasten to add that I don't want to suggest disdain for this superbly colourful and actually quite sophisticated music. I got to know Ginastera's Estancia, likely his best known work, ages ago on an LP with recordings conducted by Enrico Batiz. At that time it didn't make a lasting impression. But this CD surprised me with an unexpected level of compositional skill and refinement. Another aspect that turned my ears red is the jaw-dropping energy that the female conductor Gisèle Ben-Dor of Israeli extraction (unbeknownst to me) brings to the performance of these pieces. Particularly in the two ballet suites - Panambia op. 1 and Estancia op. 8 - the London SO seem to be at the very edge of their seats!

Stylistically, these pieces oscillate between athletic primitivism and a poignant, rustic lyricism à la Copland (with whom Ginastera studied). They are symphonic spectaculars in the true sense of the word, featuring an abundance of explosive rhythms and memorable tunes. What also strikes is Ginastera's fantastic mastery of the orchestra, even in his op. 1 which he wrote at the tender age of 20.

In addition to the ballet suites the CD features three orchestral works that come more or less from the same mould. The Suite of Native Dances op. 15 is very short and probably the least memorable of the package. Ollantay (A Symphonic Tryptich), op. 17 is much more substantial. It's, as so often with Ginasteria, inspired by Incan lore. Here the colours are more muted and the symphonic argument more differentiated than in the suites. The most notable piece on this CD is the unfinished opus Popol Vuh: The Mayan Creation, op. 44. Allegedly this was a commission by Eugene Ormandy which Ginastera was very slow to take up and eventually he continued to work on it for almost 20 years. It was still unfinished by the time of his death in 1983. But 8 of the 9 planned sections were performable and the premiere took place in 1989 by Leonard Slatkin and the St Louis Symphony. Popol Vuh is a 25 minute orchestral fantasy that is a cross between, say, Varèse and Ravel. The Mayan creation is depicted as a sequence of expressionistic orchestral tableaux that ascend from the depths of The Everlasting Night to the Dawn of Mankind. I can't detect a deep symphonic logic in it, but there is no denying that this piece provides evidence of an unflagging creativity and an unbroken musical imagination.

Popol Vuh and Ollantay are very capably performed by the BBC Welsh Orchestra with Ben-Dor at the helm. Although the CD collates recordings with different orchestras and venues, the sonic picture is remarkably consistent. The sound is rather resonant, with fairly good bass and mid-range but a mushy top end. As a result in the most frenzied tuttis the orchestra tends to shrink into a blur. But I'm not complaining as this CD has given me a good deal of listening pleasure.