Argentina’s Carlos Guastavino (1912–2000) was a 20th-century composer who essentially crafted melodic works from 19th-century elements. Though he incorporated aspects of Argentine folk music, his idiom consciously steered away from either Alberto Ginastera’s modernism or Astor Piazzolla’s embrace of popular forms. Guastavino’s literary tastes showed more daring: His settings of texts by such diverse authors as Borges and Gabriela Mistral feel completely natural. On their own terms, most of the 31 songs on Flores Argentinas are charming, and a few prove genuinely haunting.

New York–born mezzo Désirée Halac grew up in Argentina and started her musical training there. Returning home to study at Mannes College, she championed contemporary works and obscure repertoire with honest vocalism in venues all over the city. She’s also appeared as Purcell’s Dido at the historic Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

This disc finds Halac’s dark-hued yet shining voice conducive to the traditional devices of Hispanic musical coloration. Her essential timbral quality is very appealing, even if there’s an occasional tonal “wow” on sustained notes and some passing vocal glitches that in a glitzier studio product might have been retaken. Most importantly, Halac gives the essential sense of being fully steeped in her material. In veteran American accompanist Dalton Baldwin, she encounters a Guastavino acquaintance and aficionado who provides superb pianism and also contributes some previously unpublished material. A pleasing sleeper.

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