In 1964, the Ramírez composition
Misa Criolla marked the beginning of a period of high musical productivity for the composer, which also heralded the premieres of the works
Navidad Nuestra and
La Peregrinación (both 1964);
Los Caudillos (1965);
Mujeres Argentinas (1969), and
Alfonsina y el mar (1969), all produced in collaboration with writer
Félix Luna.
Misa Criolla and
Alfonsina y el mar are probably his best-known compositions.
Misa Criolla Misa Criolla was one of the first
masses not in
Latin shortly after the
Second Vatican Council permitted use of the vernacular in Catholic churches. by
Philips Records, directed by Ramírez himself with
Los Fronterizos as featured performers (Philips 820-39 LP, including
Navidad Nuestra, remastered in 1994 and released by Philips as CD 526 155). It was not publicly performed until 1967 in
Düsseldorf,
Germany, during a European tour that eventually brought Ariel Ramírez before
Pope Paul VI. Other notable recordings feature the solo voices of
George Dalaras (1989),
José Carreras (1990), and
Mercedes Sosa (1999).
Plácido Domingo recorded the
Kyrie (the first movement of the
Misa) with
Dominic Miller on guitar (2003). On 12 December 2014, the feast of
Our Lady of Guadalupe, it was performed in
St. Peter's Basilica, Rome at the invitation of
Pope Francis, with
Patricia Sosa as the soprano soloist and conducted by Facundo Ramírez, son of the composer, who had conducted its first performance in St. Peter's Basilica exactly fifty years before.
"Alfonsina y el mar" , composers of
Alfonsina y el mar While not sharing the same worldwide success,
Alfonsina y el mar enjoys great popularity in
Latin America and
Spain, being one of the most well regarded songs in Argentine folk music. The piece pays homage to poet
Alfonsina Storni, evoking her tragic suicide in 1938, when she threw herself into the sea at La Perla beach in
Mar del Plata, and the poem she wrote as a goodbye message,
I Am Going to Sleep. Artists of the stature of Mercedes Sosa,
Nana Mouskouri,
Violeta Parra,
Alfredo Kraus,
Avishai Cohen and
José Carreras (with
Pasión Vega) have made recordings of the song, as well as many other popular singers including
Shakira,
Ane Brun,
Miguel Bosé,
Andrés Calamaro and
Paloma San Basilio.
Other studios in 1972 Other major compositions by Ramírez include the
Cantata Sudamericana ("South American Cantata": again with text by Félix Luna, 1972) and the
Misa por la paz y la justicia ("Mass for Peace and Justice", 1981), with texts by Félix Luna and Osvaldo Catena. ==Society of Authors and Composers of the Argentine Republic==