Duo Turgeon - Guastavino "Tres Romances Argentinos"

Duo Turgeon in a live performance of "Tres Romances Argentinos" by Argentine composer, Carlos Guastavino. Presented in July 2010 by the San Francisco International Music Festival (Sfmf), this concert is from the 3rd Milton & Peggy Salkind International Piano Duo Festival, which featured American masterpieces from North and South America. For more information on Sfmf and the Salkind International Piano Duo Festival visit: http://www.sfmf.org/

About Duo Turgeon
Canadian pianists Anne Louise and Edward Turgeon have been performing professionally as a piano duo since 1996. Critically acclaimed as one of the top piano duos of our time, the Turgeons have given hundreds of performances, including a European debut at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, and a New York debut at Weill Recital Hall. The Turgeon's prizes and awards include 1st prize in the 6th International Schubert Competition for Piano Duos (1995) and 1st prize in the prestigious Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition (1997). Duo Turgeon was featured in the PBS documentary "Two Pianos - One Passion" and the duo appears on seven CDs, including Latin American Journey. http://www.duoturgeon.com/

About the composer - Carlos Guastavino (1912 - 2000)
Born in 1912 in Santa Fe province, Argentina, Carlos Guastavino is perhaps the greatest exponent of Argentine Romantic nationalism. His musical style, firmly rooted in the late nineteenth century Romantic tradition, has remained completely removed from the modern musical milieu of Argentina --his stylistic isolation will be readily evident by comparing Guastavino's works to those of Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), almost his exact contemporary. In fact, Guastavino's isolation from the Modern and avant-garde movements of his country, and his success at creating an attractive national music using a Romantic language, made him a model to the 1960's generation of Argentine popular and folk music authors, who often applied Guastavino's innovations to their own music.

His production totals more than 200 works, most of it dedicated to the piano and to the voice. An accomplished pianist with an intense gift for melody, Guastavino always wrote effectively for the piano, mastering not only its brilliant and virtuoso aspect, but also the intimate and poetic side of this instrument. His style, always tonal and lusciously romantic, is fully based on Argentine folk music. He is considered one of the greatest Argentine vocal music composers of all times. His beautifully crafted songs unfailingly cause a deep impression in audiences everywhere, and are quickly becoming staples of the Spanish-language vocal repertoire. His death in October 2000 has been a great loss to the music of his country.