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¡Viva el atonalismo! ¡Viva la dodecafonia! ¡Viva la musica concreta! Eso es una porqueria... son bodrios, son mentiras, son falsedades, son... La musica, la musica auténtica es armonia, melodia, y ritmo, perfectamente to-na-les. Es la unica forma de hacer musica.
Carlos Guastavino2
Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) needs no introduction within his native Argentina, as he is one of the most beloved figures in the history of Argentine art music. In North America, however, he is hardly known at all except to singers specializing in Latin American art songs, or perhaps to musicians with a particular interest in the music of Argentina. For most people in North America, the composer most commonly associated with Argentina is still Alberto Ginastera (1916-83), with Astor Piazzolla (1921-92) coming in a close second. Guastavino and Ginastera differed markedly in personality and in musical style; their relative positions in musical society within Argentina and internationally are direct reflections of these differences.3 Ginastera gained international fame through his cultivation of large-scale genresballet, opera, symphonic works-and his extrovert personality led him to participate in organizations that promoted new music in Argentina and elsewhere. Although some of his works have nationalist elements, Ginastera also wrote many works in an abstract, modernist style that endeared him to composers and critics abroad but alienated some listeners at home.
Guastavino, on the other hand, was introverted and shy, and the composer led a modest, private life. He wrote a handful of works for large ensembles, but the overwhelming majority of his music is in smaller genres of song, character pieces, and chamber music.4 His large-scale works are mostly unknown. The score for his only ballet Fue una vez (1942) is lost, and the other orchestral works, Romance de Santa Fe (1952, for piano orchestra) and Romance de Colastiné (1958, orchestra), are unpublished. The cantata Despedida (1973, for baritone solo, chorus, and orchestra) is published by Lagos but has not been recorded. His most popular piano works are character pieces Bailecito and Goto (both from 1940), but his most substantial works for the instrument are the Sonata in C# minor (1947) and Diez cantilenas argentinas (1953-58). Other noteworthy instrumental works include Romance del Plata (1987, sonatina for piano four-hands), Jeromita Linares (1965, guitar and string quartet), three guitar...