Samuel Barber/Alberto Ginastera-PIANO SONATAS (Mace MXX 9085) ca.1970

Samuel Barber was born on this day in 1910.
He died January 23, 1981.

Notes excerpted from the (somewhat subjective) cover notes (enclosed) by Tom Carlson:

The Sonata for Piano in E flat minor, Opus 26, dates from dates from 1949, with its premiere given by Vladimir Horowitz in New York the following year. In four movements, it begins with a statement of lofty introspection in the lower register,which leads to music of a halting, searching vein, suggestive of the sense of loneliness and apprehension while exploring an abandoned house. The work takes on a romantic coloration near the conclusion,but then grows increasingly moody, and ends quickly. The second movement begins in a quick and carefree atmosphere; alternate light and shadow dart back and forth, leading to a light-headed exhilaration one feels when running down a steep hill. The Adagio is a poignant, yet detached melody for the right hand, played against slowly moving deeper chords. The Finale is a complex fugue, noble in its brilliance and virtuosic demands.
As a whole, the sonata demonstrates an exultant mastery of piano composition in the modern idiom, with its elements of 12-tone harmonics and uses of chromaticism, and is increasingly becoming a staple in the repertoires of many of today's pianists.

Ginastera (born 1916 in Buenos Aires) first visited the United States from 1945-47 on a Guggenheim Fellowship. It was five years later (1952) when he wrote the Piano Sonata, a work which well demonstrates his "objective nationalism". The energetic opening moves to an insistent,pulsating rhythm, which is heard repeatedly throughout the work.The presto begins with a fast-paced melody,the notes all but falling over themselves,until they arrive at material from the preceding movement.The music returns in the original Presto, only to give up tho its own quiet exhaustion. the Adagio might well be called "Nachtmusik", for it is emotionally quiet as a nocturne, becoming almost blatantly romantic with its use of arpeggios, blended with a broad melodic contour. The finale returns to material from the first movement, with a rhythmical binge plunging the work ever onward to its inevitable conclusion.
Side One:

Samuel Barber-Sonata For Piano,Opus 26 (1949)

a1-Allegro energico
a2-Allegro vivace e leggero
a3-Adagio molto
a4-Fugi:Allegro con spirito

Side Two:

Alberto Ginastera-Sonata For Piano (1952)

b1-Allegro marcato
b2-Presto misterioso
b3-Adagio molto appassionato
b4-Ruvido ed ostinato
























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