On his third disc for Chandos, Gabriel Castagna conducts a programme of twentieth-century Argentine music, full of colour, energy, striking rhythms and harmonies.

Here Gabriel Castagna conducts the Orquesta Sinfónica de Entre Ríos, an orchestra which hails from a province about an hour’s flight from Buenos Aires. The idiom of this music is in the players’ blood; one of the composers represented, Oscar Giúdice, had for many years served as the orchestra’s chief conductor.

Much of the repertoire is rare on CD, making this a valuable addition to the catalogue.

Gabriel Castagna has conducted many orchestras of distinction in the USA, Europe, Japan and Argentina and is renowned for his interpretations of South American music.


Throughout history, art has been a means for many artists to express a sense of the national. The works recorded here, with their folk tunes and rhythms, demonstrate this admirably. Resourcefully exploiting the opportunities offered by sophisticated compositional techniques and the expanded scale of a symphonic way of thinking, the composers on this disc used their intelligence and artistic sensibility to generate works in which elements of traditional music unfold organically.

Carlos López Buchardo cultivated a musical style close to the traditions and customs of the Pampas (a region of Argentina). In Escenas Argentinas he draws on typical dance rhythms such as those of the gato, the triste and milonga, and also hints at traditional songs, while his instrumental writing now and then evokes the sound of popular instruments, for example, the strumming of a guitar.

Astor Piazzolla is a remarkable musician, not least for being comfortable composing in both popular and ‘classical’ genres while leading his own dance bands. Tangazo: Variations on Buenos Aires is an intriguing experiment in creating an extended structure with the basic ingredients from Piazzolla’s shorter tangos.

Luis Gianneo developed a deep interest in the traditions and history of his immediate geographical surroundings. El tarco en flor is directly inspired by the beautiful foliage and blossoms of the Tucumán region’s lush dragon trees.

With Las niñas Carlos Gustavino, a late exponent of the national style of Argentine music, produced a tender evocation of his own early childhood.

Salmo al Paraná by Oscar Giúdice pays tribute to both the city and the river of that name, ‘paraná’ being an Indian word that means ‘relative of the sea’.

'Gabriel Castagna has already proved himself something of a Piazzolla specialist' all the perofrmances sound affectionate and thoroughly idiomatic, and overall it's an undeniably enjoyable disc.'
Here’s an enjoyable, if flawed collection of colourful, rhythmically vibrant compositions from the land of the gaucho. Only Astor Piazzolla’s name is likely to be familiar to most ARG readers. His ‘Tangazo’ is a pure delight: enigmatic, sexy, and sophisticated, with distinctive melodies and piquant harmonies. The ‘Argentinian Scenes’ of Carlos Lopez Bucchardo (18881-1948) are more conventional, but the lavish scoring and syncopated rhythms result in a very pleasant 15 minutes…. The very brief but evocative ‘Psalm to Parana’ by Oscar Guidice (1906-74) is remarkable for its vivid nocturnal imagery.
'Delightful performaces, splendidly recorded.'

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