Luis Gianneo is one of the most important composers of the Argentine historical music.
He was born in Buenos Aires on January 9th. 1897 and he died on August 15th. 1968.
An important part of his musical activity took place in the city of San Miguel de Tucuman (from 1923 to 1942). In this city of northern Argentina -capital of the province of Tucumán- developed an intense artistic activity and as a teacher, founding Tucumana Symphony Association, acting in the same as conductor and also -occasionally- as a piano soloist.
In Buenos Aires, with Gilardo Gilardi, Juan Jose Castro, José María Castro and Juan Carlos Paz, was part of the Renewal Group, whose purpose was to publish the new Argentine composers work and twentieth century music. However, Gianneo could never identify himself with some avant-garde postulates from the group - he always defended the tonal system- and he finally left the group.
In Buenos Aires, one of his most important achievements as a teacher was the creation of youth orchestras to form a hotbed of musicians to fuel Argentina symphony orchestras.
Gianneo's style is rooted on musical nationalism and the tonal system, but without giving up to technical musical innovations of his time. He sought his inspiration in the rhythms and melodic turns from his country folklore, but throughout his life he was evolving into a more universal style using, in his later works, the serial system.
From its extensive catalog can be mentioned, among many other works, three symphonies; three piano sonatas; a sonata for violin and piano and one for cello and piano; 2 trios for piano, violin and cello; four string quartets; a piano concert; the Ballet "Snow White"; the Cantata "Angor Dei"; the symphonic poems "Turay-Turay" and "the tarco in bloom", the latter is his most famous work.
The Aymara concert was composed between 1941 and 1942 and it was dedicated to the Argentine violinist Carlos Pessina, who performed for the first time at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires on April 12th. 1944 and the conductor was Albert Wolf.
The concert is named in honor of the original culture of the Andean Altiplano. Obviously it is inspired by the music of this region of South America and consequently the main concert themes are based on the pentaphone scale, which is characteristic of the Altiplano music.
The Aymara Concert has three movements:
I.- Sostenuto un poco solenne - Allegro molto moderato
II.- Lento
III.- Non troppo vivo
This version is from the violinist Luis Roggero and the Argentine National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pedro Ignacio Calderón, and it was recorded in the Auditorium of Belgrano, in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires in April 1997, on the occasion of the centennial of the composer's birth.
