For this featured video, the French ensemble Quatuor Voce performs the electrifying second movement (Vivacissimo) from Alberto Ginastera’s String Quartet No. 1, Op. 20, part of the ensemble’s album Figures argentines.
The project grew out of the quartet’s fascination with Argentina, sparked initially by the music of Astor Piazzolla and later deepened through concert tours in Buenos Aires and Rosario. Along the way, the musicians immersed themselves in peñas and milongas, collaborated with artists such as the celebrated bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi, and worked closely with composers Gabriel Sivak, Fernando Fiszbein, and Jean-Baptiste Henry.
The result is a richly varied programme that moves between folk traditions and contemporary creation, combining the string quartet with two essential sounds of Argentine music: guitar and bandoneon. Alongside Ginastera and Piazzolla, the album includes new arrangements and commissioned works inspired by tango, zamba, chacarera, cueca, and baguala.
Ginastera’s music occupies a central place in the project. In his first string quartet, echoes of gaucho songs and folk rhythms emerge within a fiercely modern language, while the famous guitar sonata expands those same traditions into something intensely personal and virtuosic. In this performance, Quatuor Voce captures both the rhythmic sharpness and the restless energy of the score.
The album also features Argentine guitarist Pablo Márquez and bandoneon player Jean-Baptiste Henry, offering what the ensemble describes as a “subjective panorama” of Argentine music and its many colours.
Stream/download the album here:Figures argentines – Quatuor Voce
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