Although she was born in
Hampshire Valerie Tryon has been resident in Canada
for
some years, and she is therefore not as well known in Europe as she
might
be.
This disc presents her artistic credentials most effectively, and
listening
to
it one can well understand the enthusiasm of Siva Oke, Somm’s
recording
producer, who describes her as ‘a true artist of not only unique
talent
but a musician of great integrity and humility’.
Falla’s
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
was
originally conceived for solo piano, but on the advice of the
distinguished
pianist Ricardo Viñes, the composer recast the music into its present
form with orchestra. This intensely evocative piece is in no sense a
conventional concerto, and generating an appropriate atmosphere
therefore
becomes all the more important. The beginning of the first movement,
named
after the famous
Generalife garden on the Alhambra
hill at Granada,
immediately demonstrates the spare, economical, yet powerfully
evocative
character of Falla’s musical language. Pianist and orchestra combine
successfully in this significant passage, while the recording from
Henry
Wood Hall is also sympathetic to the needs of the music. This
apparently
innocuous theme, with its gently oscillating shape and narrow melodic
range,
generates nearly all the material of the opening movement, while the
most
striking contrast - a kind of stamping dance - occurs at the soloist’s
second entry, marked
Poco più animato (a little
more
animated). Here Tryon’s rhythmic intensity is particularly compelling.
This approach sets the tone for the whole performance, which is a
match for some illustrious competitors, for example the recordings by
Alicia
de Larrocha (Decca 4661282) and Clara Haskil (
Praga
Digitals
DSD350064),
though these are more advantageously priced. The final movement,
generally
exuberant and extrovert, is a
tour de force based
upon the
cante
jondo, a type of popular Spanish gypsy fiesta which dilutes
into a
magical conclusion.
César Franck's musical idiom is intensely personal,
developing from the amalgam of a strict classical training and a
preference
for the rich chromatic harmonies of late romanticism. His single
movement
piano concerto, under the title
Variations Symphoniques,
abounds in
vitality and imagination, and again Tryon and the RPO are on top form.
The
alternative expressive approaches are clearly articulated and are wide
in
their scope: sometimes dreamy, sometimes forceful, sometimes poetic. In
the
coda, there is the triumphant imagery of heroic romanticism.
Joaquín Turina wrote a large quantity of piano music, mostly
intimate in mood and inspired by the imagery of Spain. The
Rapsodia
Sinfonica dates from 1931, the year after his appointment as
Professor
of Composition at the Madrid Conservatory. Cast in a single movement,
it
relies upon the fundamental contrast between piano and strings, and
this
performance captures the music’s flavour within the context of a clear
projection of the structure.
There are also three additional items, by Bach-Busoni, Debussy and
Granados,
and
these are rather too substantial to be described as encores. As such
they
form
an excellent bonus to this imaginatively compiled programme.
Terry Barfoot
See also review by Dan
Morgan
