There's a lot here so in the interests of completing this appraisal
with reasonable promptitude this is written on a sample listen
basis.
What we have is a sweeping cross-section of the music of Spain.
Well, yes and no. It restricts itself to the iconic Spanish-born
greats and to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
It avoids foreigners' staples so there’s no Ravel, Debussy,
Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov, Liszt, Ibert or Glinka or, for that
matter, Berners, Walton, Sorabji, Bliss or Bax. It embraces
melody, avoids dissonance and all the things we once associated
with the word 'modernity' - perhaps ‘avant-garde’ would be a
better choice. It also gives a wide berth to the Spanish contemporary
scene as advocated so well by Columna Musica.
The twenty discs are laid out in a coffret or wallet. Each is
in its own stiff card pocket with a front design uniform with
the box. The only track details - composers, works, timings
and origins – are on the back of the card sleeve. The design
of the box and the lack of any real paper documentation is no
great shakes but then the price offsets any transient dismay
you may suffer.
In quick overview what you get is 5 CDs of Falla, 3 CDs each
of Albeniz (by Esteban Sanchez, 1968-72), Mompou, Rodrigo and
zarzuela (two Berganza discs and one Carreras), and 2 CDs of
Granados (Thomas Rajna from CRD, 1976). Sticking out like a
sore thumb is one CD comprising a so-called Zabaleta harp portrait.
Zabaleta is or was Spain’s and DG’s harp grandee. The music
on the Zabaleta disc is not Spanish – transcriptions for harp
of concertos by Bach and Handel – pleasant stuff but hardly
compelling (rec. 1966, 1978). These discursions are not isolated:
on CD6 we hear the Mexican composer, Julián Orbón’s Himnus
– Orbón was one of Mata’s teachers. Everything is licensed
to Brilliant with the sources being variously Dorian, Ensayo
(the majority), CRD and Deutsche Grammophon.
The music mixes mainstream and unusual. Rodrigo's lissom Aranjuez
and drab Gentilhombre rub shoulders with the same
composer's entertaining Concierto Para Una Fiesta (ASV,
1980, 1985) in a rather treble-strong recording by Moreno. It
has also just been reissued by itself on Regis RRC1360. There
are two CDs of the Rodrigo piano solos (Albert Guinovart) and
guitar solos (Ignacio Rodes, Carles Trepat) - the latter two
being full DDD recordings from 2002 made by Ediciones Joaquín
Rodrigo. That's a good contrast for a start.
The five Falla CDs are just as stimulating. They open with a
rarity in the shape of the elusive complete La Vida Breve
opera recorded by Eduardo Mata in Venezuela in 1993. There
are two discs of Falla piano solos including a smattering of
transcriptions from the orchestral fireworks. The piano solos
are sensitively addressed by Benita Meshulam who made these
recordings in 2004. Back to Dorian for two other Falla orchestral
discs. Further Venezuelan forces are again conducted by Mata
in 1993-94. The assortment is tangy and by no means simple-minded.
Master Peter's Puppet Show, the exotic Psyche,
the Harpsichord Concerto, the whole of El Amor Brujo,
all five orchestral Homenjaes (almost Stravinskian in
their polished brilliance and concision) and three snippets
from El Sombrero (not a patch, it must be said, on the
recent EMI and HDTT reissued from Frühbeck de Burgos). We end
with another nice rarity - Berio's orchestration of Falla's
Siete Canciones Españolas vibrantly sung by Marta Senn
who also sings the mezzo lead in La Vida Breve as well
as the floridly resinous vocalist in El Amor Brujo. Mata
is a master of instrumental colour and his Falla selection is
gloriously stimulating. However for true classic versions in
this box we must turn to Rajna's
iridescent Goyescas (when will someone track down the
Mario Miranda masters of Goyescas used by Saga for his
1970s cycle; has anyone MP3-ed those two Saga LPs?) and Mompou's
superb playing of his own Musica Callada - the quintessence
of the cool, the apophthegmatic and the limpid.
There are no liner-notes and no texts. It's the price you pay
for such an inexpensive yet stimulating and well thought through
package.
The recordings date variously from 1966 to 2002 – analogue and
digital.
Brilliant Classics will I hope continue to explore the back
catalogue. Am I the only one to hanker after a box of ASV-Sanctuary’s
Russian music series – the one piloted by Loris Tjeknavorian
and the Armenian Philharmonic?
This is a stimulating varied collection of Iberiana. At extraordinary
super-bargain price it will satisfy the enquiring minds of experts
and of those mildly curious about the music of Spain.
Rob Barnett
CD 1 Joaquín Rodrigo - Guitar Concertos
CD 2 Joaquín Rodrigo - Piano Music
CD 3 Joaquín Rodrigo - Works for Guitar Solo
CD 4 Manuel de Falla - Orchestral Works
CD 5 Manuel de Falla - Orchestral Works
CD 6 Manuel de Falla - Orchestral Works
CD 7 Manuel de Falla - Piano Works
CD 8 Manuel de Falla - Piano Works
CD 9 Isaac Albeniz - Piano Music
CD 10 Isaac Albeniz - Piano Music
CD 11 Isaac Albeniz - Piano Music
CD 12 Enrique Granados - Piano Works
CD 13 Enrique Granados - Piano Works
CD 14 Federico Mompou - Piano Works
CD 15 Federico Mompou - Piano Works
CD 16 Federico Mompou - Piano Works
CD 17 A Portrait of Nicanor Zabaleta – harp concertos by Bach
and Handel
CD 18 Zarzuela - José Carreras, tenor
CD 19 Zarzuela - Teresa Berganza, soprano
CD 20 Zarzuela - Teresa Berganza, soprano
The performers include Alfonso Moreno, Enrique Batíz, Eduardo Mata,
Mompou, Nicanor Zabaleta 
