ERATO ENSEMBLE: Alberto Ginastera - Duo for Flute and Clarinet

Duo for Flute and Clarinet (1945) Music by Alberto Ginastera Jeff Pelletier, flute Julie Begg, clarinet Originally for flute and oboe, Daniel Dorff’s adaptation is faithful to the original, other than the transposition and a few octave changes. Alberto Ginastera’s compact, neoclassical Duo, is a work of such freshness and substance that music critic and composer Virgil Thomson declared, “This is the kind of music which makes one believe and have confidence in the New World.” The first movement, titled Sonata, opens with a bubbly theme first stated by the flute and then the oboe in imitative counterpoint. With the appearance of the second subject, the movement takes on a more leisurely atmosphere. The development focuses mainly on the first theme; when the second reappears, it takes on a more angular character, resuming its initial contours only in the recapitulation. In the second movement, Pastorale, the instruments sing long, forlorn melodies that unfold at an extremely slow pace. Here, the flute and oboe each play unaccompanied nearly as much as they play together. Lacking the typical folk element of Ginastera’s music, the Pastorale instead evokes the broad, lonely expanse of the Argentinian pampas. The final movement of the Duo is a playful, virtuosic, lively little Fuga. 1. Sonata. Allegro 2. Pastorale. Adagio 3. Fuga. Vivace Video by Garry Checora