Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946)
El sombrero de tres picos (The three-cornered hat) [37:28]
El Amor Brujo (Love the magician) [24:48]
Carmen Romeu (mezzo-soprano, El sombrero de tres picos),
Marina Heredia (cantaora, El amor brujo)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado
rec. 2019, Barcelona
HARMONIA MUNDI HMM902271 [62:27]
El sombrero de tres picos announces itself with a fine flourish in most recordings; here too is an arresting opening. Terrific timpani, brazen trumpet, rattling castanets, cries of ole! and then the attractive mezzo voice of Carmen Romeu launching her warning song. The horns, too, glow warmly in the reprise. The woodwinds get in on the fun in the Allegretto mosso “Afternoon” scene, especially the shrieking piccolos and chortling bassoons (the latter depicting the libidinous Corregidor, or Magistrate). In the “Dance of the Miller’s Wife” the smallish string band permits the wind and horn colours to register ideally without any sense of an engineer tinkering with the balance – ninety per cent of the time the balance should be the job only of the players and conductor in such music. The seguidilla of the “Neighbours’ Dance” is alluring, and there is dry wit in the quotation of the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth. The “Dance of the Corregidor” has a delightful fleetness of foot, and the final dance (a Jota) brings us the full orchestra at last, and an exciting and vivid close.
El Amor Brujo has all the same qualities, but is perhaps an even richer score, especially melodically. There is another exhilarating opening summons, and after that fanfare the pianissimo will make you hold your breath, as the sombre low woodwind evoke the nocturnal scene in the cave of the sorceress. The “Dance of Terror” and the “Ritual Fire Dance” have plenty of energy and rhythmic lift, but are not too fast (a tendency which sometimes afflicts the latter piece). The gentle andante molto tranquillo of the “Magic Circle” casts its spell, and the oboist is fine everywhere, managing the arabesques (a Moorish legacy in Spanish music) so that they sound like a ‘catch’ in the voice. The close of the lovely “Pantomime”, with its solo violin and piano, then horn, is a moment of ineffable tenderness. Was ever such a range of colour drawn from such a small instrumental group as in El amor brujo?
The cantaora is Marina Heredia, a flamenco artist from Granada who, according to the biographical note in the booklet, sings this part everywhere. She sounds exactly right. Few opera singers could quite capture the authentic feel of the cante jondo (“deep song”) of the Andalucian gypsies that Falla said had inspired the whole score. The work was initially proposed to the composer by Pastora Imperio, a great flamenco singer of the day who sang at the premiere. Indeed the ballet score is called by Burnett James in his book on Falla “a full-scale cante jondo for voice and orchestra” so integral are the vocal contributions. This performance embodies that spirit, not least thanks to Heredia’s extraordinary voice, sounding as cracked and dry as the parched earth of Andalucia, but full of gypsy passion. (If you are expecting some latter day Victoria de Los Angeles or Teresa Berganza, try track nine before you buy.)
Pablo Heras-Casado is an international figure of course, as an opera conductor, a guest-conductor of leading ensembles in the symphonic repertoire, and in baroque music. But he too comes from Granada, and not surprisingly sounds completely at home in this repertoire. There is a flamenco feel to the rhythms, not least when the strings imitate the strumming of a guitar. Much of the music is kept songful or dance-like – these are both ballet scores after all. The members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra come from twenty different countries, but each one is somehow persuaded by Heras-Casado to locate their inner Iberian, and they play idiomatically and very precisely for him. The fine recording and full booklet notes are well worthy of the performances. This splendid issue is highly recommended, among the best versions of this particular coupling.
Roy Westbrook
