Toccata
Recreation of the Toccata for organ, that is part of the collection titled Sonate d’intavolatura per organo e cembalo. Enrique Mario Casella (1891–1948) made this transcription for harp, structured in five parts in the style of a great organ improvisation. The ‘choral’ in the first section is followed by another one with a uniform beat and two intertwined melodies. The third part returns to the initial choral that serves as a transition to a fugue section, to conclude with a major cadenza or coda. Casella added as an ending to this toccata two of the verses of the sonata: one in D minor and the other one in F major.
Sonatina for Harp
This piece was dedicated to and premiered by Spanish harpist Nicanor Zabaleta, on July 22, 1947 at the Colon Theater of Buenos Aires. With three movements, the first one Dulce y Sonriente is like a toccata although it maintains the traditional structure of the sonata. This movement is followed by an Andantino in the manner of an Arietta and a closing Presto.
Argentine tunes opus 17 / Three Creole tunes
Parts of the Aguirre pieces that form part of this repertoire were transcribed by the Italian harpist and pedagogue August Sebastiani (1889–1971), who lived in Argentina. He made a great dissemination of the harp, transcribing many works by Argentine composers for this instrument.
Marcela Méndez made the transcription of two of the Aires criollos to complete the version for harp. Aires criollos contains “...the first, in A flat major, with its insinuation of a tango-like habanera and at times bimodal melody evokes the typically rural Argentine female beauty ... the second one, belongs to the most beautiful type of sandunguera milonga, that where the mixed breed and rural characteristics came together in a rhythmic dance, in a climate of mischievous and piquant courtesy. And the third one is an evocation of a porteño (by Buenos Aires) period ... with the air of festive chatter in an environment of open air parties under a canopy of flowers that prevails throughout the piece doing it particularly delicious.” (Julián Aguirre, by Francisco Giacobbe, Ricordi, Buenos Aires,1946.). From Aires nacionales argentinos, the selected ones are N° 4 Córdoba and N° 5 Córdoba. Aguirre offers in these pieces the depths of his Argentine sensitivity, musical sections with great lyrical beauty and rural emotion.
At the gate / Sleep Indian boy
This two selected pieces contain elements of traditional Argentine popular music, transposed to the genre of classical music, without thereby loosing their essence. En la tranquera (At the gate) is a simple piece, of a descriptive nature, where the composer attempts to transcribe into music the almost contemplative mood of a peasant, leaning on the sort of rustic gate made of pieces of lumber and wire, which is used to safeguard the entrance to a cattle ranch. The second one, Duerme niño indio(Sleep Indian boy), is a lullaby, also called copla or tonada according to the geographical area. It is a form of song with one of the closest associations to expressions of pre-Hispanic roots within the ensemble of Argentine songs. This one has the typical characteristics of a baguala. Although it is a form intended to be sung, the composer offers an instrumental reformulation in which its characteristic traits are preserved. This piece is structured on the basis of three and sometimes two sounds. Traditionally the lullaby is sang accompanied by a caja (a percussion instrument), which is here imitated by the accompaniment of the harp’s basses at the beginning and the end of the piece.
Sonata for harp
Dedicated to N. Zabaleta, it was composed shortly after the ballet Levana y las tres tristezas, Canciones latinoamericanas and Fantasía para arpa, also dedicated to Zabaleta. Sonata para arpa has three movements: the first one, Allegro moderato, follows the sonata structure, the second one is a Lento ‘ad libitum’, full of poetry and lyricism, a sort of interlude connecting without break with the third one, Allegretto grazioso, in 6/8, that evokes the rhythmic and melodic lines of a cueca (picaresque dance, typical of the region of Cuyo), in which there is a dual rhythm between the melody and the accompaniment.
Vidalita
It is a well known work in its original version for piano and singing. This transcription for harp was done by Federico Lombardi, a harp professor in Tucumán during the first half of the 20th Century. It preserves all its original beauty, added to the instrument’s timbric resources that Lombardi skillfully exploited by using harmonics and arpeggios. The manuscript of this transcription belonged to the daughter of E. M. Casella, harpist Viviana Casella.
Three pieces
They were dedicated to three Argentine harp performers: Triste to Romana Di Piaggi; Canción, written based on the theme of a lullaby, to Elena Carfi; and Danza, an evocation of a malambo (Argentine folk dance for men, in a binary beat and for fast movements), to María Ester Moro.
Bundle of Amancay
Southern song dedicated by Pignoni to the guitar due of Pomponio - Martínez Zárate. The plant amancay (Alstroemeria aurantiaca) is native of the Argentine Patagonia. There are some 50 varieties, mostly from the Andean-Patagonian forests and mountains. The most widely found flowers are an intense yellow with red speckles.
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