ARGENTINE DANCES

FOR FULL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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A set of 14 symphonic works based on the many dances popular in Argentina.

There comes a time in the life of any composer when you start looking back at your roots, upbringing, and the many factors that facilitated and motivated your chosen career. And so I look back to the time when I was 12 years old and incredibly fortunate to be chosen to study at the National Conservatory in Argentina, which made it possible for me to enjoy the best musical education possible. Many years later, I realised that everything would have been very different indeed if my family had been forced to pay for my tuition. Given their financial circumstances, I very much doubt that my life would have been in music. Luckily for me, admission to, what was at the time, the most prestigious music conservatory in South-America, was gained on merit alone and continues to be so to this very day.
During my time at the National Conservatory, one of my most important music tutors was undoubtedly composer Carlos Guastavino, who taught us harmony. I remember him saying, during one of his lessons, how strange it was that no Argentine composer had ever written the country's national symphonic dances, in the same way Dvorak had written his Slavonic Dances and Bartok his Hungarian Dances for their respective countries; especially considering how many beautiful dances and airs exist in Argentina. He said he didn "t feel compelled to write them himself, as he wanted to concentrate on his piano compositions, but he was wondering if any of us, his students, would ever feel the urge to do so sometime in the future.
And now, more than fifty years later, I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to do just that. This work represents my unreserved gratitude to Argentina, my country of birth, for the start in life it gave me, which enabled me ultimately to have a fulfilling life in music. For that reason, I dedicate my Argentine Dances to the people of Argentina.   Polo Piatti