Danza del gaucho matrero articulation

[pianorama]

Hello,

For those of you familiar with the piece, how do you/would you approach the articulation for the repeating motif at the start of the piece?

At first, I thought the better and more energetic approach was to play staccato (or at least detached). However I found it difficult to build up a strong tempo this way, and switched to a slightly muddier but more manageable legato. I backed up this decision in my head when I heard most excellent recordings (besides Argerich's) sound pretty well legato anyway.

However I then played it for my teacher and he strongly recommended a detached touch. But I'm sort of struggling a bit with that touch, and... well, just exactly how do you think those smooth-sounding yet crystal clear danzas pianists (eg. Robert Plano) are approaching their articulation in the final dance?