Pairings by Santiago Leibson: piano

3 Danzas Argentinas by Alberto Ginastera
Etude Op.65 N.2 by Alexander Scriabin
Etude N. 3, Book 2 for the Repeated Notes by Claude Debussy
Etude N. 6, Book 1 for the Eight Fingers by Claude Debussy
Ruby My Dear by Thelonious Monk
3 piano pieces & Las Nubes by Santiago Leibson

The pairing of fully notated pieces and others that deal with improvisation is an attempt to blur all stylistic lines. It is my opinion that there should not be any difference between an improviser and a performer. The reason being the music is one and it really doesn’t matter if it is improvised or composed; it only matters that it is happening in the present moment, that moves forward and that is an inner expression of the performer/composer/improviser.


Alberto Ginastera Danzas Argentinas Op.2 / 3 Piano Pieces

Alberto Ginastera is probably one of the most recognized Argentinian composers in the world. Born in Buenos Aires in 1916, he became a central figure in the development of contemporary music in Argentina.
His early piece Danzas Argentinas Op.2 (Argentine Dances) was composed in 1937. The overall piece works with folkloric sonorities and images: the gauchos (cowboys), the guitar-like sonorities, the pampas, chacarera, zamba and malambo (all three folkloric dances). Ginastera makes his own vision of the “guacheso” world. The original pieces (“Hommage to Ginastera”, “Pausa” and “Vicuña Porto”) that are intercalated within the Danzas work as responses to that romantic perspective.

Scriabin Etude Op.65 N.2 / Thelonious Monk “Ruby My Dear”

The Three Études Op.65 are definitely the most cryptic among the whole cycle. N.2 is crafted from one sonority and creates a whole scene where desperation is the main character. On the other hand, we have Thelonious Monk “Ruby, My Dear”, composed around 1945. This intricate ballad is a masterpiece in portraying melancholy for past lovers.
Both these pieces are a soliloquy in different subjects: love and desperation. In musical terms, they share a fragmented way of presenting the material, with several interruptions to the main melody.

Debussy Etudes N.6 and N.9 / “Las Nubes”

Debussy’s “Twelve Piano Etudes” were composed in 1915 as a response to Chopin Etudes and in an effort to update the piano language. The two etudes in the program show a humorous face of the French composer, which it maybe an optimistic response to the awful times in Paris during World War I. The original piece “Las Nubes” (Clouds) tries to capture this joyful element. It is composed as a deconstruction of the musical material of the Etude N. 9 “Pour les notes repetees” and works as a bridge to Etude N. 6 “Pour le huit doigts”.

Plays piano, keyboards, and writes some music.

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