These recordings have been licensed
by Brilliant from EMI Classics; the
start of what I hope will be a long
and rewarding trade connection. They
were first issued separately and then
gathered, exactly in the same format,
in EMI’s Rodrigo Edition (CZS
7 67435 2 - now deleted) to mark - one
year late - the composer's ninetieth
birthday.
Although various companies
have flirted with Rodrigo they have
usually confined themselves to one or
other of the four deservedly popular
guitar works (Aranjuez, Madrigal,
Andaluz or Gentilhombre).
If we confined ourselves to the Aranjuez
there would hardly be a single major
label that has not wanted to have the
work in their catalogue. It caught and
held the public imagination with its
elegance, passion and sense of broiling
heat, dark shadows, fountains and the
cool exotic.
Naxos have launched
and fulfilled a Rodrigo Edition of their
own and this set is in some senses in
competition with that series of six
separate volumes. The difference is
that the Naxos includes much more. On
the other hand it does not include all
the non-guitar concertos. However at
Brilliant box prices the present set
is likely to be as much Rodrigo as most
people would want.
The four discs here
are packed to overflowing. If you are
already won over, perhaps by the Aranjuez
concerto, and want to have a large amount
of Rodrigo in one fell swoop then this
is certainly the set for you.
The Concierto
Serenata (harp) is delicacy
itself: warm, pointedly articulated,
classically poised and smiling. Nancy
Allen keeps things moving along and
in the finale Batiz and his orchestra
add some captivatingly long melodic
lines (typical of the mid-movement of
the Aranjuez) without which the
concerto might have rather sped by leaving
little trace in the memory.
James Galway was the
dedicatee of the perky and chipper Concierto
Pastoral - very much in keeping
with Galway's character in the two outer
movements and peaceful and contented
in the somnolent adagio. The
orchestra is a small one with one part
each for oboe, clarinet, trumpet (who
struggles a little in the finale in
this version) and horn and strings.
A complete change of
gear comes with the Heroico
written in a pre-Aranjuez style
reminiscent of Ravel, the baroque and
even Arthur Bliss's Piano Concerto of
1939 with which this concerto is contemporaneous.
It has a quizzical and confidently striding
approach which in the largo moves
into ensemble brass writing catching
echoes of the Venetian Gabrielis.
The Madrigal
is a concerto in ten small panels. It
is securely done here and exactingly
recorded. The ppp busy guitar
figuration in the arieta is most
lovingly rendered and not lost in the
high pressure violin line. There are
moments too in this piece where Rodrigo
looks towards the Stravinsky of Dumbarton
Oaks and Pulcinella. The
Estio (Summer)
Concerto stands on the other side of
the divide that separates this work
from the Heroico. It speaks of
a surprisingly peaceable kingdom given
the world and domestic events that hemmed
it in. It flashes brilliantly along
with never a dissonance in earshot.
A simmering warmth laps the listener’s
ears in the central Sicilienne.
This is an idyllic concerto rather than
a grand romantic statement - pictorial
rather than dramatic. The solo line
in the finale squeaks and hiccups along
with more than a humorous hint of Khachaturian
and Kabalevsky and a notable Iberian
flavour.
Disc 2 ends with Rodrigo's
curse and blessing - his claim to the
ambience of every hotel lobby, lift
and mall: the Concierto de Aranjuez.
What has elevated it to fame? Its rhythmic
interest is intriguingly detailed, its
melodies are of resounding quality,
for a guitar concerto the writing for
orchestra is lively and bejewelled not
the threadbare upholstery it might have
been in other hands. In addition the
melody in the adagio is invincibly
memorable. The only serious criticism
in this version is the expressive vibrato
laid on in the adagio with a
large trowel by the cor anglais player
of the LSO. For me it is just too much
though that’s the only slight blemish
in an otherwise fine account.
The Fantasia
for much of its 22 minutes explores
the baroque pastichery of Walton's antique
sketches from Henry V. The ideas
are drawn from the music of Gaspar Sanz.
Unlike the Andaluz I have always
thought this piece, for all its charm,
would never have had so many recordings
but for the towering success of Aranjuez
with which it was often coupled. Speaking
of the Andaluz this is
a lovely work which manages to keep
Rodrigo's tendency for museum dust at
bay. It is only the extravagant requirement
of four guitarists that keeps this piece
out of the concert hall and recording
studio. We have here a fine performance
- perhaps rather quick by comparison
with the original recording by the Romero
family (Victor Alessandro conducted
the San Antonio orchestra) for whom
it was written. That performance can
still be heard on Mercury and is well
worth getting as a supplement to this
box.
I well remember back
in 1981 hearing the Concierto
en Modo Galante in a friend's
dub of the burly but rather four-square
Louisville Edition LP recording. As
ever with Rodrigo - except perhaps when
he is too busy with the pastiche antiquery
- the rhythmic interest is strong if
mechanically insistent. The singing
cello of Robert Cohen relieves the unyielding
motor patterns. And singing is what
distinguishes the tender and lovely
adagietto - another top-drawer
melody. The finale nods too closely
and indulgently towards the allegro
gentile finale of Aranjuez.
The collection of concertos
here is incomplete. If you want a comprehensive
survey you are going to have to track
down Julian Lloyd Webber's birthday
tribute album which includes a concerto
which I presume is contractually his
exclusive property - the Concierto
como un Divertimento on BMG-RCA
74321 84112 2.
The first three of
the four discs in this set pack together
all the contractually available concertos.
The final disc introduces us to a completely
unfamiliar Rodrigo: the orchestral tone
poet. Two symphonic poems contrast with
four pieces, each in the nature of a
suite or panel of descriptive sketches.
The first is the 1934 For the
Flower of the Blue Lily (Per
la flor del lliri blau). It
is based on a Valencian poem 'reflecting
the mourning of all Nature for the death
of a Young Prince'. It is a lovely piece
with more dramatic vigour than many
Rodrigo items - more surge and searing
turbulence. Its style is romantic rather
like a dramatic poem combining Ravel
(Pavane) and Tchaikovsky (Fifth
Symphony) with pre-echoes of the adagio
from Aranjuez. From 1976, 42
years later, Rodrigo takes on a visionary
mantle for A la busca del más
allá (In search
of the beyond). This is a subject
worthy of Scriabin but Rodrigo explores
it in language of diaphanous transparency
where Ravel is the model and where throbbingly
ecstatic climaxes such as that at 3.30
have the composer stretching towards
the light - perhaps the same light which
Howells captures in Hymnus Paradisi
- ‘glory is the true light and passing
wonderful’. There is a suggestion of
children's playsongs in the quietly
chiming epilogue of the piece although
the awed gong-stroke finally leaves
the listener wondering if he has strayed
into a forbidden sanctum.
The Musica para
un jardín is from 1957
and is engagingly dissonant for Rodrigo
- a road he did not go down but which
makes for provocative listening. There
is some scathingly Stravinskian writing
in the Cinco Piezas infantiles
as well as tenderness and muscular
celebration. The Zarabanda was
written in 1926 in homage to the vihuelist
Luis Milán. Antonio Soler was
a Catalonian contemporary of Domenico
Scarlatti and is presumably reflected
in the athletic Pulcinella-style
antics of Soleriana. Intriguing
to notice how frequently Rodrigo's works
link back to the past - Milan, Soler,
Sanz and Scarlatti.
If you are looking
for a more full-blooded and upfront
approach to the guitar concertos then
the version on Hänssler is worth
seeking out. It has Aranjuez,
Madrigal and Andaluz in
recordings that have gallons of brightly-lit
immediacy and little refinement. If
you find the Romero-Mercury versions
of the guitar concertos then don't hold
back. To complete the picture you need
the RCA-BMG recording of the Lloyd Webber
Concierto in modo Divertimento.
This set is packed
with delights and surprises. The delights
are the Serenata, the Andaluz
and the Aranjuez. The surprises,
and they are agreeable, include the
lovely Concierto en modo Galante
and A las busca del más
allá which after Aranjuez
might just be Rodrigo's finest work.
If you want an unbeatably
inexpensive Rodrigo splurge then this
set is an extremely pleasing choice
in good clear sound.
Rob Barnett
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Enrique Bátiz
