Isaac Albéniz
was a prodigiously talented pianist
who appeared in public for the first
time at the age of four and continued
to give recitals and concerts throughout
his life. He spent several years in
London where he met and collaborated
with Francis Money-Coutts, a member
of the banking family, an association
which gave rise to a number of operas.
He later lived in Paris and in Nice
and was living in the French Pyrenees
at the time of his death. The catalogue
of works he left behind him was in total
chaos and the work of establishing order
- and in particular any kind of reliable
chronology - in his works has been a
huge challenge for his biographers.
This is only one of several parallels
which exist between him and Enrique
Granados, whose piano works on Brilliant
Classics played by Thomas Rajna I reviewed
here recently. Both composers were Catalonian,
born less than 150 miles apart, and
it can fairly be said that each composer's
reputation rests substantially on a
single, extended piano work, in the
case of Granados, Goyescas, and
in the case of Albéniz, Iberia.
It was perhaps Albéniz
who was the most overtly nationalist
of the two composers, and the majority
of the works chosen in this collection
played by Esteban Sánchez, in
addition to Iberia, are directly
Spanish in atmosphere and carry Spanish
titles. It is known that Albéniz
played the Pavana-Capricho as
early as 1883, making it one of his
earliest piano pieces. It is a simple,
enjoyable piece without pretension,
more capriccio than pavane, and with
a hint of habañera here and there.
The A minor Tango of a few years
later is hardly more individual, though
strongly rhythmic. The Sonata No. 5,
in spite of its number, is also an early
work, one of a cycle of seven sonatas,
several of which are lost and some of
which perhaps never even existed. It
is not a sonata in the Beethovenian
mould, but rather a salon piece in four
movements of which the second, curiously
entitled Minuet of the Cockerel
– though there is no discernible programmatic
content – is sometimes played separately.
The titles of the eight
pieces comprising the Suite Española
as presented here are confusing and
do not necessarily correspond to published
editions. Albéniz seems to have
composed two such suites and the various
individual pieces were written at quite
different times. This is perhaps unimportant
but undoubtedly troubling for those
who like such matters to be clear and
unambiguous. Alas, with Albéniz
this will never be! No matter, these
are for the most part early pieces once
again, with a strong atmosphere of salon
music about them and with a good dose
of Spanishry for good measure. Sánchez
occasionally seems stretched in the
toccata-like outer sections of Asturias
but is most affecting in the sometimes
rather lachrymose harmonies of Córdoba.
In general, however, he makes a very
convincing case for these most atmospheric
but undemanding pieces.
España
is a collection of six "Album Leaves"
which, by their simplicity, were surely
destined for young or inexperienced
players. Sánchez devotes as much
care to them as he does to the rest
of the collection: would that the composer
had done the same! In simplifying his
style in this music composed around
1890 he serves up a mixture not only
uninspired but also banal. Malagueña
is perhaps the most interesting piece,
but the jaunty Capricho catalan
is typical of these pieces in its predictable
melodic and especially harmonic formulae.
Tango is the worst offender here,
surely one of the most vapid pieces
ever to be found in the catalogue of
a major composer.
There is rather more
interesting music to be found in some
of the pieces making up the travelogue
entitled Recuerdos de Viaje.
The rocking outer sections of the first
piece vividly reflect the title (On
the Sea) but the textures are opaque
and less pedal – despite the composer's
indications – would make for a more
satisfying sound. The second piece,
like the first, is in ABA form, the
outer sections sweetly melodic, the
middle passage dark and dramatic (marked
sombrio by the composer). Any
connection with a barcarolle eludes
at least this listener. Alborada
is a lovely tone painting, but Andalusia
was to be evoked with considerably more
subtlety in Iberia than in the
following, albeit attractive, En
la Alhambra. The fanfares of the
fifth piece seem lacking in invention,
and the piece as whole, though brilliantly
conceived for the piano, is not compelling.
In contrast the sixth piece is totally
successful as well as being the most
overtly Spanish of the group. Then this
collection of pieces, which began on
the sea, ends on the beach, though a
very strange beach scene this is to
be sure. Marked melancolicamente,
this is a gentle valse de salon,
albeit with some delicious cadences
to charm the ear.
Torre Bermeja
is more substantial, the last of the
collection of Twelve Characteristic
Pieces, Op. 92 and an evocation
of the "Vermilion Tower" of the Alhambra
Palace at Granada. The constant alternation
of major and minor tonality, the guitar-like
figuration, the boundless energy combine
to make a fine and memorable piece.
Nonetheless, with the first notes of
La Vega, composed in 1897, we
are in a different world. Subtle, evocative,
mysterious, the opening notes are soon
transformed by skilful development into
music almost as powerful as we find
in Iberia. We hear echoes of
Debussy, certainly, as well as of earlier
composers for the piano, but in this
work, perhaps for the first time, Albéniz
asserts his own identity, and also perfectly
integrates, with great subtlety, the
sounds of the music of his own country.
In all these works
Esteban Sánchez is a fine and
worthy guide but as will be clear by
now, much of the music is second rate
at best. So how does he shape up in
Iberia, the undisputed, towering
masterpiece which apparently flowed
unbidden from the composer's pen during
the years 1905 to 1908? Well, the answer
is, exceptionally well. It goes without
saying that he is totally at home in
this music, the finest nuances of Spanish
and Moorish style brought out with great
conviction and subtlety, all of which
is evident in the opening Evocación,
as dark and brooding as any version
I know. At last able to follow the score
in the main work, I noticed a remarkably
natural, yet sometimes extreme, rhythmic
freedom, and in the second piece, El
puerto, there is more of a feeling
of regular pulse in each of the two
versions I have been listening to for
comparison. The first of these is by
Alicia de Larrocha on Decca, and the
second by Joyce Hatto, whose reading
on Concert Artist I reviewed myself
in these pages. Each of these readings
is a fine achievement. Sánchez
is less successful than either of the
others in articulating the multi-voiced
counterpoint of the third piece, though
he is hugely impressive in the more
overtly virtuoso passages as well as
in the profoundly beautiful central
section, even if here, as elsewhere,
following the score reveals him to be
less than faithful to the letter of
the text in respect of dynamics and
expression marks. I find that Sánchez's
playing sometimes lacks the long term
control and psychological power of de
Larrocha and Hatto, with the result
that some of the bigger pieces, such
as Almeria, can seem too long,
though some of this can be explained
by his choice of protracted tempi here
and there. Marvellously rhapsodic in
Triana, he lacks the last ounce
of textural clarity that we hear from
both his rivals, and the same might
be said of El Albacín,
dangerously hypnotic though he is at
the outset. Most listeners will, I think,
find passages in El Polo rather
too martellato for their taste,
an impression which spills over into
the following piece too. The piano sound
can be hard above forte, and
although some of this undoubtedly comes
from the recording, the pianist's rather
unvarying manner with sforzandi
and – especially – left hand pedal points
adds to this impression and makes protracted
listening rather an ordeal. There are
moments of remarkably passionate playing
in the closing pages of Málaga,
yet though Sánchez comes into
his own when playing quietly I would
point out that Albéniz inserts
pppp no less than eight times
in the last six bars of Jerez,
yet you really wouldn't know it from
this performance.
We learn from the booklet
notes that Esteben Sánchez died
in 1997 having returned to the land
of his birth, apparently shunning the
life of an international virtuoso in
order to teach, read and play for pleasure.
The booklet contains lots of information,
though it is poorly organised and there
is rather more pianist-worship than
I think Sánchez himself would
have wanted. But the set can be confidently
recommended to anyone wanting an extensive
collection of Albéniz piano music,
especially at the price, and the reading
of Iberia is outstanding. Only
my slight misgivings concerning the
sound would, I think, disappoint a listener
not making direct comparisons. Yet there
is greater control, authority and cumulative
power in both alternative readings.
Either will do very well, but Joyce
Hatto's is really quite special, and
makes an impressive and unusual entry
point into the recorded repertoire of
this remarkable pianist who, championed
by many on this site for so long, is
at last receiving her due elsewhere
as well.
William Hedley
Full Track Listing
CD1 [73:10]
Iberia, Book 1
1. Evocación [5:28]
2. El Puerto [4:06]
3. Corpus Christi en Sevilla [8:32]
Iberia, Book 2
4. Rondena [6:47]
5. Almería [9:58]
6. Triana [5:35]
Piano Sonata No. 5 in G flat
major]
7. Allegro non troppo [7:16]
8. Minueto del Gallo [2:10]
9. Rêverie, andante [7:06]
10. Allegro [2:25]
11. Pavana-Capricho [4:26]
12. Tango in A minor [4:31]
13. Torre Bermeja [4:15]
CD2 [71:12]
Iberia, Book 3
1. El Albaicín [7:27]
2. El polo [6:36]
3. Lavapiés [7:29]
Iberia, Book 4
4. Málaga [5:17]
5. Jerez [9:44]
6. Eritana [5:38]
Recuerdos de Viaje
7. En el mar [4:36]
8. Leyenda, barcarola [4:12]
9. Alborada [4:23]
10. En La Alhambra [4:14]
11. Puerta de Tierra [3:35]
12. Rumores de La Caleta [3:39]
13. En la playa [3:53]
CD3 [75:05]
España, Seis hojas de
álbum
1. Preludio [1:53]
2. Tango [2:48]
3. Malagueña [4:08]
4. Serenata [3:23]
5. Capricho catalán [2:25]
6. Zortzico [2:12]
Suite Española
7. Asturias [5:50]
8. Córdoba [6:02]
9. Cádiz [4:28]
10. Granada [4:42]
11. Castilla [2:57]
12 Cuba [4:52]
13. Mallorca [6:05]
14. Sevilla [4:54]
15. La Vega [17:30]
Esteban Sánchez, piano 
