Spain and Argentina

In the years after World War II, Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera emerged as one of South America’s most distinctive musical voices, searching for ways to express national identity without turning it into folklore on display. His Piano Sonata No. 1 captures that tension through contrast, rooted in place while speaking far beyond it.

That dialogue between local identity and broader influence shapes this program of music by Spanish and Argentine composers, spanning the early twentieth century to today. The broadcast opens with Joaquin Rodrigo, whose work helped elevate the guitar throughout the twentieth century, blending Spanish color with the clarity he absorbed while studying in Paris. From there, the program moves through Astor Piazzolla’s intimate La Calle 92, a rarely heard work named for the New York street where he once lived, and Ginastera’s landmark Piano Sonata No. 1, performed here by pianist Michelle Cann from the Flagstaff Piano Festival.

In the second half: Xavier Montsalvatge’s Fantasia explores the shared resonance and distinct personalities of harp and guitar, while Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae reflects on beauty and pain coexisting beneath a luminous surface – music shaped by memory and unrest, ending with a single word: Jerusalem.