Enrique GRANADOS
(1867–1916)
Colección de Tonadillas: [8:18]
1. El mirar de la maja (No. 5)
[3:06]
2. La maja dolorosa (No. 11)
[3:38]
3. El majo discreto (No. 3) [1:34]
Joaquin VALVERDE
(1846–1910)
4. Clavelitos [1:53]
Jesús GURIDI
(1886–1961)
Canciones Castellanas:
5. No. 4: No quiero tus avellanas
[3:41]
6. No. 5: Cómo quieres que
adivine [2:24]
Joaquin NIN (1879–1949)
7. El vito [1:58]
8. Paño Murciano [1:53]
Joaquin TURINA
(1882–1949)
Triptico:
9. Farruca [3:21]
Ernesto FUSTÉ
(1884–1972)
10. Háblame de amores
[2:57]
Amadeo VIVES (1871–1932)
11. El retrato de Isabela [2:12]
12. El amor y los ojos [2:13]
Manuel de FALLA
(1876–1946)
Siete canciones populares Españolas:
[12:35]
13. I El paño moruno [1:12]
14. II Seguidilla murciana [1:20]
15. III Asturiana [2:33]
16. IV Jota [2:50]
17. V Nana [1:39]
18. VI Canción [1:10]
19. VII Polo [1:51]
Traditional Songs of Spain
(arranged by Graciana Tarragó):
20. El Rossinyol(The Nightingale)(Catalonia)
[2:18]
21. El Testament d’Amelia (Amelia’s
Will)(Catalonia) [3:30]
22. Adiós meu homiño!
(Goodbye, my dearest)(Galicia) [1:50]
23. Miña nay por me casare
(The Dowry) (Galicia) [1:12]
24. Tengo que subir, subir (I
must go to the mountain) (Asturias)
[2:57]
25. Ahí tienes mi corazón
(Here is my heart) (Castilian Fandango)
[1:47]
26. La ví llorando (I
saw her crying) (Old Castile-Santander)
[1:32]
27. Ya se van los Pastores (The
shepherds are singing) (Old Castile-Soria)
[1:54]
28. Campanas de Belén
(Bells of Bethlehem) (Andalusia) [1:06]
29. Jaeneras (Songs of Jaen)
(Andalusia) [2:22]
30. A dormer ahora mesmo (Cradle
Song) (Murcia) [2:54]
31. Granadinas (Songs of Granada)
(Andalusia) [2:44]
32. Hincarse de rodillas (Prayer)
(Andalusia) [3:18]
33. Canción de trilla
(Song sung at haymaking) (Majorca) [1:40]
34. Parado de Vallemosa (Bolero)
(Majorca) [1:40]
35. Nik Baditut (My possessions)
(Basque Province) [2:03]
36. Andregaya (The betrothed)
(Basque Province) [0:50]
Victoria de los Angeles (soprano)
Gerald Moore (piano)(1–19), Renata Tarragó
(guitar) (20–36)
rec. 6 and 7 May 1949 (1, 4, 9, 10),
21 and 22 June 1950 (2, 3, 5, 6), 30
May 1953 (7, 8, 11, 12), 12 September
1951 (13–19), 12–14 September 1950 (20–36)
Having been enormously
fond of Victoria de los Angeles from
the earliest years of my record collecting,
it was something of a slap in the face
to receive, a couple of months ago,
two discs with late recordings by her.
The sound quality on one of them was
atrocious, the other was only awful
and their qualities were the greatest
hindrance to enjoy her singing. It also
seemed that the singing per se
was less than consistently good with
poor intonation in places and some strain
on higher-lying passages. What was never
in question was the warmth of the voice,
the musical phrasing and the care for
words.
These are also the
qualities that immediately catch the
ear on these early recordings; of drawbacks
there are none. The purity and beauty
of the voice, the intonation and the
sheer love of what she is singing are
all one could wish for and the recorded
sound, excellent for its time, leaves
nothing to be desired.
Skimming through my
notes I see two words recurring. One
is ‘lovely’, the other is ‘delicate’.
They both appear in connection with
the first three delectable songs from
Granados’ Tonadillas and oh how
I wished more of them had been included!
These are among the finest songs, not
only in Spanish but in the total oeuvre
of songs, and no one – a personal view
of course – has ever sung them better.
Not even Montserrat Caballé on
her all-Granados RCA recording from
the mid-1960s – but she is on the same
level. She sings them with orchestra
though and Victoria de los Angeles is
even more intimate when being accompanied
by Gerald Moore’s ‘guitar’. Guitar?
Yes, the accompaniment to, especially,
La maja dolorosa, is so ‘guitaristic’
and Moore avoids any tendency to percussiveness,
stroking the ivory so gently as though
caressing nylon strings.
There is so much to
admire in this recital and I can only
touch upon some personal favourites.
Clavelitos,
for instance, light and bouncy and with
a little chuckle of pleasure in the
voice. Jesús Guridi, a composer
I have ‘discovered’ lately, has produced
a couple of gems that are sung with
both brilliance and warmth – not a self-evident
combination. Nin, with some bolder harmonies,
is also fascinating and the little known
Fusté’s Háblame de
amores is a – yes – lovely song.
Vives is better known but still no household
name and the two songs here are just
as attractive.
The title of de Falla’s
famous song cycle has sometimes been
translated "Seven Popular Spanish
Songs" which is a misinterpretation,
since "populares" means "of
the people". They are folksongs
and as such they could do with a degree
of ‘earthiness’: they come from the
Spanish soil. This is perhaps the only
characteristic that was missing in Victoria
de los Angeles’ armoury. Her Carmen,
to which she came late in life on stage,
was arguably too civilized a woman.
She need not be portrayed as a snarling
tigress but she needs some soil under
her nails. Concerning de Falla’s song
cycle one could, with some justification,
raise the objection that it is, after
all, a collection of art songs, ‘based
on’ songs of the people and I believe
that there is room for more than one
attitude. Victoria de los Angeles’ great
predecessor, Conchita Supervia, was
a little more down to earth in her legendary
recording (once available – at least
in Sweden – on Parlophone PO 153/55),
but she was a mezzo-soprano. On the
other hand the greatest Spanish mezzo-soprano
of the second half of the 20th
century, Teresa Berganza, recorded the
songs with guitar accompaniment – Narciso
Yepes no less – and this also automatically
lends a more intimate atmosphere to
the readings. True, she applies some
meaty chest-notes to the concluding
Polo but in the main hers is
also a civilized interpretation. They
have long been my favourites, even though
I have a, possibly, perverse affection
for José Carreras’s Philips recording
– the only one I know of with a male
singer.
For the remainder of
the disc there is absolutely no reason
for objections. These seventeen traditional
songs from all over Spain form a cornucopia
of beautiful melodies, of rhythms and
flavour that is irresistible. The careful
arrangements, the discreet accompaniments
and – once again – the lovely singing
make this a collection to return to
over and over again, to get inspiration
from and to spend endless hours of fruitful
comparison of regional styles. Victoria
de los Angeles singing is so pure, so
natural and there is nothing of the
artificiality one can sometimes feel
when classically schooled singers take
on traditional material. Most of all
one feels that she sings from the depth
of her heart. Just listen to El Rossinyol
and I bet no one – except those
few who have hearts of stone – can avoid
being trapped. The simple innocence
of Ya son van los Pastores is
another, and Campanas de Belén
(Bells of Bethlehem) also goes direct
to the heart. A couple of the songs
have long introductions by the guitar,
where Renata Tarragó shows what
a fine player she is and this also reminds
me that Victoria de los Angeles used
to accompany herself on the guitar in
the encores. The marching bolero Parado
de Vallemosa, from Majorca, is a
true vitamin injection and the short
and lively Basque song Andregaya
is a perfect encore.
The booklet has a long
and comprehensive biography by Alan
Bilgora, there is a bibliography and
also synopses for the traditional songs,
while there is a reference to a website
for the texts and translations of the
other songs.
Summary: Lovely!
Göran Forsling
NIMBUS PRIMA VOCE NI 7947 [79:22]
