Albeniz: 6 Danzas espanolas; 6 Pequeños valses; 6 Mazurkas de salon. Guillermo Gonzales, piano – Naxos 8.572196 (70 minutes).
Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) was born in Camprodon, Catalonia. He showed very early on what a gifted child he was by giving his first concert at the age of four. When he was six, he left for Paris, where he continued his musical education with some of the best teachers there.
At the age of 10, the composer left his family and began to organise his own concert tours all over the world. By the time of his death at 49, Albeniz had embarked on three South American tours, visited New York and San Francisco, and performed in almost all of Europe’s capitals.
His reputation as composer and performer was unrivalled throughout Spain, and he was acclaimed as “a giant with poetry in his fingers”. The continuous string of successes wherever he went made him a natural leader of the Spanish nationalist school, and he introduced composers like De Falla and Turina, and many other Spanish musicians, to the cultural circles of Paris.
Albeniz’s huge contribution to Spanish musical nationalism reached its peak with Iberia (1905-09), his absolute pianistic masterpiece, but before writing this epic work he had already composed a significant number of other piano pieces, mostly popular salon music.
The three works on this recording were written during the 1880s, when Albeniz was still in his 20s, so it is no wonder that despite their contrasting moods, all three sets of dances are brimming with the delicacy, joy and voluptuous beauty that characterise much of his work.
The Pequeños valses hark back to the spirit of Chopin, while the Mazurkas and Spanish Dances are full of original touches, and both rise above the level of mere folk music.
Guillermo Gonzales is the ideal interpreter of this elegant yet highly colourful music, and his masterful performances bring out all the exotic details of each piece.
Guridi: Ten Basque Melodies; So the boys sing; An adventure of Don Quixote; In a Phoenician Vessel; The early cock is crowing. Isabel Alvarez, soprano, Chorus of the Conservatory of the Bilbao Choral Society and Bilbao Symphony Orchestra conducted by Juan Jose Mena – Naxos 8.557110 (65 mins).
Jesus Guridi (1886-1961) is a foremost exponent of Basque nationalism, and one of Spain’s greatest orchestral and operatic composers.
He was a free spirit who lived in an age when music was evolving rapidly. While refusing to attach himself wholly to the new Viennese School, Guridi was still able to merge the different elements of the romantic and the modern with superb subtlety, thus creating a personal language which brought him international acclaim.
His reputation as a great organ teacher and improviser was also one of the accolades he managed to achieve, and apart from writing several pieces for the instrument his output also includes folk-songs, operas, symphonic pieces, chamber music and film scores, which he wrote in his later years.
This disc is a mixture of both the symphonic and choral aspects of Guridi’s work and all five compositions illustrate the composer’s knack for colour and musical imagery.
Undoubtedly, the Ten Basque Melodies, written in 1941, are the highlight. Indeed, with their refreshing variety, sophisticated instrumentation and brilliant orchestration, which also includes touches of modernistic acerbity, the set is considered to be Guridi’s masterpiece.
The two symphonic poems Don Quixote and In a Phoenician Vessel date from 1916 and 1927 respectively and both are prime examples of the composer’s ability to paint musical canvases with sumptuously contrasting colours and a potent narrative that puts listeners at the heart of the story.
So The Boys Sing was Guridi’s first major work and first great success. Based on Spanish children’s folklore, it borrows tunes from well-known popular songs and describes the going about of children in three different situations.
The Early Cock is Crowing (1942) marks the composer’s return to the typical form of the Castillian albada, and depicts two young lovers caught unawares by the cock crowing at daybreak.
This is a beautifully prepared and thoroughly committed issue focusing on one of Spain’s lesser known yet imaginatively inventive 20th century composers.
Riveting stuff in excellent sound and presentation that is crying out to be heard.
Finzi: Three Song Cycles: A Young Man’s Exhortation, Op. 14; Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a; Oh Fair to See, Op. 13b. John Mark Ainsley, tenor, Iain Burside, piano – Naxos 8.570414 (64 minutes).
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) is a 20th century English composer whose fame rests on one genre of music: songwriting. He studied with some of the best teachers and rose to fame with a delightful orchestral miniature, A Severn Rhapsody (1923) and a song cycle to poems by Thomas Hardy, By Footpath and Stile.
As Finzi’s reputation grew during the 1930s, it became clear that the composer had nurtured a predilection for Hardy’s poetry at an early age, and was eager to write music for as many poems as possible.
Song-writing is at the heart of Finzi’s output, and when he died in 1956 aged 55 he was considered to have contributed immensely to the English song tradition.
This outstanding issue highlights two Hardy settings, A Young Man’s Exhortation (1926-29) and Till Earth Outwears, premiered posthumously on February 21, 1958. Both share the poet’s preoccupation with the transience of life and death, and many songs are permeated with a dark yet peaceful resignation.
Oh Fair to see was also published after Finzi’s death, and although this cycle is a conglomeration of several authors, Hardy included, the music is generally bright and sunny.
John Mark Ainsley interprets this fragile repertoire with a caressing approach that befits these songs, and his great attention to detail reveals the many underlying tensions of both words and music.
Iain Burnside lends sympathetic support. Not to everyone’s taste, but those seeking intellectual stimuli should not hesitate to buy this CD.
These CDs were submitted for review by D’Amato Record Shop of 98/99, St John Street, Valletta.