…” As an adjunct to the main review of a complete recital to benefit The Lambs in New York City, here are four mementos of Rosa Antonelli’s Carnegie Hall recital in 2011. The highly accomplished Argentine pianist plays to strength in dances by Ginastera and Piazzolla, but it’s good to be reminded that a champion of South American composers also has wider musical interests. We get one of Chopin’s op. post. Nocturnes, No. 20 in C♯ Minor, and its melting melody is delivered with real finesse and an instinct for the genre. Actually, since Antonelli approaches the slow tangos of Piazzolla with empathy for their melancholy, she’s naturally attuned to Chopin. The A-B-A form of this nocturne features syncopation in the middle section that Antonelli hearkens back to Buenos Aires in hints of rhythm and accent.

In the three Argentine works she displays a gift for immediate communication, drawing the audience into a musical world whose air she breathes intimately, as De Larrocha breathed the air of Spain. Chau, París, composed around 1960, is Piazzolla’s farewell to the city where he had lived and studied; it is extracted from Four Tangos. Sentido único comes from the same series, but the two pieces are a study in contrasts. Piazzolla’s goodbye to Paris strongly, purely asserts its roots in Argentina, while Sentido único adds a layer of virtuoso improvisation more reminiscent of an outpouring from Chopin or a jazz pianist—we are reminded of how creatively Piazzolla incorporated diverse musical elements into his style of nuevo tango.

Even more virtuosic is the selection from Ginastera’s Danzas Argentinas. Composed in 1937, the three dances depict aspects of gaucho life on the Pampas. Here we get the “Dance of the Arrogant Gaucho,” a rough ride that features expression markings like furiosamente (furiously), violente (violent), mordento (biting), and salvaggio (wild). These justify a powerful ostinato drive, flirtations with 12-tone, dissonant, and chromatic passages, ending on ffff and a furious glissando. Antonelli meets the technical challenges with confidence and navigates bold rhythmic shifts with the ease of someone who has deeply absorbed Ginastera’s idiom.

Carnegie Hall’s publishing policies permitted only these four video excerpts from a 2011 recital that brought Antonelli to the stage of Stern Auditorium. Even for a pianist with more than 1,000 concerts to her credit, this was a rare opportunity, and I’d imagine also the most prominent showcase that South American piano music has had in New York. The audio and video quality are excellent. I’ve heard the complete recital and wish that somehow it can get released in the future. The live setting adds extra scintillation to Antonelli’s playing. Huntley Dent ”