Danzas Argentinas Op.2 (Argentine Dances)--1937
Danza del viejo boyero
Danza de la moza donosa
Danza del gaucho matrero
Recorded by Eduardo Delgado
Ginastera composed this piece at the age of 21 when he was still a student at the National Conservatory of Music. The three characters portrayed in the piece--"gaucho of the old days," "rural girl," and "outlaw gaucho"-- can be considered an epitome of sorts of the gaucho story: a gaucho deprived of his freedom by modernization now a peón (wage laborer) in the estancia (large plantation); a plantation girl who longs for the legendary gaucho of the past; and a wanted gaucho who flouts social rules and recalls the heroic figure of the past. These characters and the associated folk music and dance are woven together to create a work that evokes the landscape of the pampas.
“1-Danza del Viejo Boyero”   (Dance of the Old Herdsman)
This piece is based on the rhythm of the malambo (a folk dance of the gauchos, in which they competed with their physical abilities and fierce steps). The work's "awkwardness" comes from the bitonality where the left hand plays only black keys, the right hand only white keys. After the sound's intensity peaks in the first half, the volume decreases dramatically. In the final section, Ginastera's iconic compositional device, the signature chord of the guitar's open strings (E-A-D-G-B-E) appears. The mismatched steps and guitar sounds may represent the melancholy of an aging gaucho, displaced between the old and new values.
“2-Danza de la Moza Donosa”  (Dance of the Graceful Girl)
The piece features melancholic melodies set to the graceful slow rhythm of the samba (different from the Brazilian samba). The crescendo and ascending chromatic scale build tension, and then the melody quickly descends, almost as a metaphor for the girl sighing over her unrequited love. In the middle section, the melody turns from sad to intense, as if she were revealing her painful inner feelings. However, this intensity lasts only briefly. After a short coda, like a thunderstorm fading away, there is a surprising dissonance, leaving the impression that her anguish still smolders at the bottom of her heart.
“3-Danza del Gaucho Matrero”  (Dance of the Outlaw Horseman)
Of the three pieces, this is the most intense, energetic, and rhythmic ally sustained. The unsettling and tense descending chromatic scale at the beginning, the repetition of dissonant chords, and the abruptly struck chords all hint at the presence of a dangerous wanted gaucho. After the melody and rhythm of the gato (folk dance music) are used, a bitonal section, similar to that of the first dance, briefly appears. In the real world, modernization reduced the gauchos to wage laborers caught in confusion between old and new values. The piece ends with a combination of intense rhythms and chords (I, IV, and V), a major characteristic of the malambo. Through the festive depiction of the gaucho, Ginastera may have sought to restore freedom and pride to the "outcast" in his work, rather than branding him a wanted man.
	<Mitsuko Kawabata>
<Ginastera International Society>