It would hardly be possible to imagine a more headily performed
collection of Spanish piano music than this eight disc box of
Alicia de Larrocha’s EMI recordings made for Hispavox,
over a thirty year span. Her earliest LPs, barring a couple
of American releases, were made for this company in the 1950s
and she remained loyal over the years. Her later Deccas (and
RCAs) are probably the better known and were immeasurably better
recorded, but there isn’t necessarily a correlation between
performance excellence and recorded sound, no matter how splendid
those later remakes may have been; and they were indeed excellent.
In matters of pinpoint accenting and in terms of the ultimate
in phraseology, these early recordings are often just about
superior. Many may not have caught her performances of Soler,
since she was so closely associated with Granados and Albéniz
and Turina, but these highly individual statements open up a
continuum of Spanish keyboard excellence back to the eighteenth
century. Vivid and strongly sculpted, there is an intensity
about these sonata traversals that immediately both excites
and detains one. I think it would be fair to point out a degree
of romanticisation in some of the performances that may not
appeal to more austere tastes, but I happen to find this buoyancy
and generosity an attractive feature of the performances.
Her GranadosSeis Piezas Sobre Cantos Populares Españoles
are splendidly nuanced, whether the guitar strum is evoked,
as in the Preludio, or in the swaying control of her rhythm,
for which you really need to sample Ecos de la Parranda
or indeed the declamatory personalisation of Zambra,
numbered fifth in the cycle. It would be pertinent to note at
this juncture that the Hispavox recordings were hardly state
of the art. In fact they were often downright poor, boxy and
occasionally distorted. Nevertheless, despite these drawbacks,
the essential core of the music emerges as vividly as one could
reasonably hope. The dark, dank sonorities that permeate the
funereal ethos of El amor y la muerte is just one highlight
from her reading of Goyescas, which is housed in the
second disc - these are card sleeves by the way, as per usual
in the Icon series. It is the sense of naturalness of timbre
and rhythm that is so compelling, as it assuredly is in Iberia’s
El Puerto, a brilliantly realised reading by the way.
Her 1992 recording of Albeniz’s Suite Española
is fully poetic, with a genuinely festive kick to Sevilla
though even here, at this late date, the recording quality is
clangy. There’s also very bad wow during Oriental
in the Cantos De España cycle that was presumably
impossible to remedy. Her Danzas Españolas are
equally convincing and also somewhat sonically superior, the
music oozing with personality, élan and sheer charm.
The various voices of the third, in D, are richly but unselfconsciously
bought out, from gruff bass to treble chatter, whilst in the
Valses Poéticos lyricism and dynamism are held
in scintillating accord. It’s a shame that the 1953 tapes
of Escenas Románticas are in dullish sound, but
we can still appreciate the refined quality of the playing and
the fine dynamics she employs and, not least, the dancing voluptuousness
of Granados’s inspiration.
One should on no account overlook her dazzling Turina, a small
sample of which she recorded here. Exciting repertoire - not
that Turina isn’t - comes via Montsalvatge’s Concerto,
a 1992 Barcelona recording with its rich Debussian inheritance
amorously projected. Collectors will know that she’d already
recorded this work back in 1977 with de Burgos, but this EMI
is with García Navarro directing. Finally, as if this
isn’t riches enough, we have the concert at Hunter College,
City University of New York, given by de Larrocha and Victoria
de los Angeles in 1971. From Spanish baroque pieces to Granados
and de Falla, this is a formidable and masterly recital with
the three cycles - de Falla’s Siete canciones populares
español and Granados’Nueve Tonadillas
and Canciones amatorias - demonstrating how adept a collaborative
pianist de Larrocha could be, and of course how marvellous was
de los Angeles.
There are full recording details in the booklet which has two
articles, one by de Larrocha’s daughter, Alicia Torra
de Larrocha, and the other by Gregor Benko, and both are affectionate,
insightful and well worth reading.
Jonathan Woolf
Details
CD 1 [67:15]
Antonio SOLER (1729-1783)
Sonata No.24 in D minor (Nin, I No.1) [8:48]
Sonata No.84 in D (Nin, I No. 5) [3:18]
Sonata No.85 in F sharp minor (Nin, I No. 6) [5:09]
Sonata No. 89 in F (Nin, I-No.10) [3:20]
Sonata No. 90 in F sharp (Nin, I-No. 12) [5:19]
Sonata No. 21 in C sharp minor (Nin, I-No. 2) [5:33]
Sonata No. 87 in G minor (Nin, I-No. 8) [5:36]
Sonata No. 88 in D flat (Nin, I-No. 9) [4:20]
Enrique GRANADOS (1867-1916)
Seis Piezas Sobre Cantos Populares Españoles [25:19]
CD 2 [72:47]
Enrique GRANADOS
Goyescas
Los requiebros [8:22]; Coloquio en la reja [10:21; El fandango
de Candil [5:30];
Quejas o la maja y el ruiseñor [6:23]; El amor y la muerte
(Balada ) [12:22]; Epilogo: La serenada del espectro [7:34]
El pelele [4:13]
Isaac ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909)
Iberia book 1
Evocación [5:35]; El puerto [4:09]; El Corpus en Sevilla
[8:06]
CD 3 [73:57]
Isaac ALBÉNIZ
Iberia book 2
Rondeña [7:10]; Almería [9:01]; Triana [5:16];
Iberia book 3
El Albaicín [6:45]; El polo [6:44]; Lavapiés [6:18]
Iberia book 4
Málaga [4:30]; Jérez [8:41]; Eritaña [5:25]
Navarra - completed by Déodat de Séverac [5:28]
Azulejos [8:30]
CD 4 [74:58]
Suite Española
Granada [4:51]; Cataluña [2:29]; Sevilla [4:35]; Cádiz
[4:51]; Aragón [4:03]
Capricho: Pavana [3:29]
Tango [2:46]
Recuerdos de viaje Op.71 - Rumores De La Caleta [3:45]
Recuerdos de viaje Op.71 - Puerta De Tierra [3:26]
Cantos De España
Preludio (Asturias) [6:20]; Cantos De España- Oriental
[3:27]; Cantos de España- Bajo La Palmera (Cuba) [4:08];
Cantos De España- Córdoba [6:00]; Cantos De España-
Seguidillas (Castilla) [2:48]
Zaragoza [3:45]
Malagueña [3:48]
Mallorca (Barcarola) [6:23]
Zambra Granadina [3:19]
CD 5 [76:19]
Enrique GRANADOS
Danzas Españolas
Nº 1 in G [2:52]; Nº 2 in C minor (Oriental) [4:49];
Nº 3 in D [3:53]; Nº 4 in C (Villanesca) [5:28]; Nº
5 in E minor (Andaluza) [4:10]; Nº 6 in D (Aragonesa) [3:38];
Nº 7 in G (Valenciana) [4:39]; Nº 8 in C [3;17]; Nº
9 in B flat [4:43]; Nº 10 in G [4:04]; Nº 11 in G
minor [5:23]; Nº 12 in A minor [5:22]
Danza Lenta [3:45]
Allegro De Concierto [7:42]
Valses Poéticos
Introducción Nº 1 "Melódi [2:36]; Nº
2 "Tempo De Vals Noble” [1:13]; Nº 3 "Tempo De Vals
Lento [1:52]; Nº 4 "Allegro Humorístico” -
Nº 5 Allegretto (elegante) [1:49];
Nº 6 "Quasi Ad Libitum (Sentimental) [1:21]; Nº 7
"Vivo" [0:43]; Coda (Presto - Tempo Del Primer vals) [2:07]
CD 6 [76:33]
Enrique GRANADOS
Escenas Románticas
I "Mazurca" [3:03]; II "Recitativo - Berceuse [4:12]; III ***
(El Poeta Y El Ruiseñonor) [4:32]; IV"Allegretto (Pequeña
Danza) [0:54]; V "Epílogo (Allegro Appasionato-andantino
spianato) [8:49]
Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946)
Piezas Española
Aragonesa [3:08]; Cubana [3:50]; Montañesa [4:08]; Andaluza
[4:13]
La Vida Breve - Danza Nº 2 [4:17]
El Sombrero De Tres Pico - Danza De Los Vecinos [3:12]
El Sombrero De Tres Pico - Danza De La Molinera [3:52]
El Amor Brujo - Danza Del Terror [2:14]
Fantasía Bética [11:33]
Isaac ALBÉNIZ
La Vega [13:39]
CD 7 [67:41]
Joaquín TURINA (1882-1949)
Sanlúcar De Barrameda
I "En La Torre del Castillo [6:23]; II "Siluetas De La Calzada”
[3:17]; III " La Playa - IV “Los pescadares en Bajo de
Guia” [11:30]
Danzas Fantásticas
I "Exaltación" [4:42]; II"Ensueño" [6:07]; III
"Orgía" [4:41]
Danzas Andaluzas - "Zapateado" [4:05]
Danzas Gitanas - "Sacromonte" [1:55]
Xavier MONTSALVATGE (1912-2002)
Concierto Breve Para Piano Y Orquesta [24:16] ¹
CD 8 [48:14]
Concert at Hunter College with Victoria de los Angeles
Antonio LITERES (1673-1747)
Confiado jilguerillo (arr. Tarragó): from 'Acis y Galatea
[3:29]
Blas de LASERNA (1751-1816)
El Tripili arr Roma [1:47]
Enrique GRANADOS
Nueve tonadillas
La maja de Goya [3:22]; Amor y odio [2:04]; El majo tÍmido
[0:55]; El mirar de la maja [2:33]; Callajeo [1:20]; El tra-la-la
y el punteado [1:05]; Las currutacas modestas [1:13]; El majo
olvidado [2:52]; El majo discreto [1:31]
Canciones amatorias
Llorad, corazón [2:00]; Iban al pinar [1:51]; No lloréis,
ojuelos [1:06] Mañanica era [2:26]; Mira que soy niña
[2:34]; Gracia mía [2:36]
Manuel de FALLA
Siete canciones populares español
El paño moruno [1:08]; Seguidilla murciana [1:10]; Asturiana
[2:25]; Jota [2:38] Nana [1:29] Canción [0:58] Polo [1:51]
Gerónimo GIMÉNEZ (1854-1923)
La Tempranica - “La tarántula é un bicho
mú malo” (Zapateado) [1:40]
Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Victoria de los Angeles (soprano)
Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona/García Navarro¹
rec. Barcelona, 1962-92 
