The centenary of the birth of Alberto Ginastera, who died in 1983, has prompted a three-volume survey of his orchestral music from Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic. They begin with Pampeana No 3, one of many works inspired by the wide-open pampas of the Argentine composer’s homeland, and continue with Ollantay , based on an Inca legend. Both works have atmospheric, slow, scene-setting movements leading to driven, pounding ones with a cinematic sound; South American dance patterns collide with heady, forceful, expressionist orchestral sounds. The main work is the ballet Estancia, which is less than an ocean away from Falla’s Three-Cornered Hat, but with a harder edge. The foot-stomping rhythms of gaucho folk dance abound in this tale of a city boy making good in the country, with intermittent narration and singing from baritone Lucas Somoza Osterc. Under Mena, the BBC Phil makes the final dance a proudly jubilant shindig.
