Some Spanish Piano Music

[Todd]

I dithered over this set for a while.  I wanted to hear Michel Block's take on Iberia, but I didn't know for sure that he was the one playing the work.  I saw no need to get Aldo Ciccolini in this work in this box since his set is available on its own, and I had no idea who Gonzalo Soriano or Teresa Llacuna were.  Once I determined that it was Michel Block playing Iberia, I took the (cheap) plunge. 

My expectations for Block's Iberia were mostly fulfilled.  As I expected based on some of his later Pro Piano recordings, Block plays with almost limitless flexibility and nuance – in all aspects.  He tinkers with tempo and rhythm, dynamics, texture, color – everything – but in a most fluid and engaging and mostly self-effacing way.  A few of the individual pieces seem a bit heavy and slow at times – though even then the playing is irresistible – but Block merely uses such a ploy to maximize contrasts within the various pieces.  His variety and touch and nuance are simply wonderful.  My preferred Iberia remains Esteban Sanchez's version, but this makes a nice addition to my collection indeed!

The rest of the set just came along for the ride.  Fortunately, some of it is of a satisfyingly high order.  Aldo Ciccolini plays Enrique Granados' Goyescas and does a generally fine job of it.  I prefer his take to Alicia De Larrocha's take on RCA, which just doesn't click for me.  (I have Michel Block's Pro Piano recording of the same work on its way to me right now; I have high hopes.)  The real find for me in this set is Gonzalo Soriano, who takes up much of the rest of the set, playing some Albeniz, Granados, and Falla.  His tonal range isn't the broadest I've heard, but his rhythmic control and subtlety and superb control of dynamics make me want to hear more from him.  He's got a swagger and panache that I find quite appealing.  Okay, his Noches en los Jardines de España isn't the best I've heard, but only that extraordinary team of Walter Gieseking and Kurt Schröder make this work really click for me.  Alas, Teresa Llacuna's contribution to the set isn't so great.  She plays a selection of works by Manuel de Falla and mostly just bangs away at the keyboard, with little in the way of nuance, grace, or even clarity.  It was a chore to sit through her portion of the set.  She even manages to make Fantasia Baetica sound unpleasant.  Next to Esteban Sanchez's remarkable recording of that (and other Falla works), she sounds like an amateur.

The sound is as good as can be given the age of the recordings; the Soriano recordings are mostly from the 50s, the others from the 60s and 70s.  For some reason, the set was mastered in HDCD, so if you have a player that decodes HDCD you'll hear even more. 

So, come for the Block, stay for the Soriano.  A fine set.

[Drasko]

Got that box recently myself. So far went only through first two discs and would tend to agree both on Block's Iberia and of little I heard of Soriano so far.

Too bad to hear of Llacuna, was having some hopes she'll rise to the occasion. Oh, well.....it seems I'll have to track down Sanchez' de Falla on Ensayo and that doesn't look easy at the moment.

[sidoze]

Too bad to hear of Llacuna, was having some hopes she'll rise to the occasion. Oh, well.....it seems I'll have to track down Sanchez' de Falla on Ensayo and that doesn't look easy at the moment.

Why resign yourself (not to mention her!) to this before listening to it? You know very well how often one person will hear banging and another will hear a great performance. Of course no one comes close to Sanchez--his Beethoven is wonderful too--but really, come on.

I recently missed out on a CD of Block playing Chopin's 3rd sonata. It had some of the slowest timings I've ever seen in the work and I was curious if he could actually sustain them.

Anyway sorry to drag this off-topic. I don't know the set--well, except for Ciccolini's passable Iberia, which isn't exactly valid here.

[Drasko]

Why resign yourself (not to mention her!) to this before listening to it? You know very well how often one person will hear banging and another will hear a great performance. Of course no one comes close to Sanchez--his Beethoven is wonderful too--but really, come on.

Off the soap box?

I never resign people beforehand and you know that.

I might have worded something badly but 'too bad to hear' to me sounds like a normal reaction to a bad review and 'Oh, well.....it seems I'll have to track down.....' like something obviously induced by possibility that my impressions could be the same as original poster's since his thoughts of first two disc in the box are very close to mine.

[Brian]

I heard the Iberia of the Campanella guitar trio before ever hearing a piano version of the work, and now having tried several I sadly profess to not understanding the appeal of the (original) piano version at all. Could Sanchez or Block solve this for me?

[Todd]

Could Sanchez or Block solve this for me?

I they can't, no one can.  Try Sanchez first. 

[sidoze]

I would be wary of trying Sanchez first as the sound is quite poor (to put it midly -- some find it unbearable). If you haven't heard it already there is the Spanish EMI Larrocha recording in EMI's GROC series which would be a better choice for a first try. It's certainly one of the best recordings around, and the sound is pretty good now it's been remastered (I have the Spanish EMI release and haven't heard the GROC however).

[BorisG]

I would be wary of trying Sanchez first as the sound is quite poor (to put it midly -- some find it unbearable). If you haven't heard it already there is the Spanish EMI Larrocha recording in EMI's GROC series which would be a better choice for a first try. It's certainly one of the best recordings around, and the sound is pretty good now it's been remastered (I have the Spanish EMI release and haven't heard the GROC however).

I am pleased you clarified the Sanchez sound. I prefer de Larrocha by a wide margin, on both EMI and Decca.

And for Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Maso on Naxos.

[Todd]

When this first came out a few years ago I was intrigued.  A new recording of Iberia would be nice, I thought, but the normal price of around $50 was too high.  Recently I was able to get it through Amazon for $18, shipping included.  Now that I've heard it a couple times, I must say that my feelings are mixed. 

Rosa Torres-Pardo does not strike me as being fully up to the challenge of the music.  The most challenging parts are played somewhat tentatively at best.  Some of the passages are just not up to snuff – she seems to approximate the notes, like Cortot would do on occasion, only not as good.  Also, she likes to take some of the slower music at extremely slow tempi, making the music drag or lose all forward momentum.  Michel Block also takes some of the slow music at slower than normal tempi, but he is far more successful.  However, the less successful passages do not dominate.  Most of the playing is lovely and Torres-Pardo displays a fine grasp of Albeniz's rhythmic demands.  One thing I did notice is that she gets better as the work progresses.  The suite was taken from one concert, so perhaps she had the jitters early on and settled in as the show progressed.  As a bonus, four of the works are duplicated on the second disc, with the twist being that the music is played on Albeniz's piano.  The instrument's sound is certainly a bit different and adds a different sonic flavor.  The playing also sounds a bit more technically assured. 

Sound is very good, though not SOTA. 

Anyway, while it's nice to hear a new-ish set, Ms Torres-Pardo doesn't quite match up to Esteban Sanchez or Michel Block for me. 

[Todd]

I didn't need another version of Iberia, let alone Goyescas, but when I found Leopoldo Querol's twofer that contains both works for a bargain price, I thought two things: Who?  And, why not?  Turns out that Mr Querol as a pianist of some renown in Spain in the middle of the last century, and apparently he recorded very little.  These Ducretet-Thomson recordings were made in 1953 and 1954 in Paris.  How are they? 

Not that great, quite frankly.  Querol plays the pieces differently than any other pianist I've yet heard.  In Iberia, little to no romanticism or "imagery" is to be heard, and tonal variation is more than a little limited.  Instead, Querol plays with a lean, pointed style that makes the music sound more "modern."  It's almost like Friedrich Gulda playing Spanish music, with one notable exception: Querol's technique isn't exactly bullet proof.  There are slips and some cringe-inducing moments.  The first book has so many (possible) slips that one wonders if it's not his playing but his use of a different published edition of the work.  It could be either or both.  I think I'll stick with Esteban Sanchez and Michel Block here.  Goyescas, predictably, sounds similar, though the negative effects are mitigated somewhat.  However, Querol's playing lacks the color and nuance to bring the work to life.  I have less exposure to this work, but of the versions I've heard, nothing touches Michel Block's recording on Pro Piano.

Sound is good enough given the age of the recordings.  Another not so incredible set of recordings from the vaults containing Ducretet-Thomson output, the other being the Debussy recordings of Desire-Emile Inghelbrecht.

[Mandryka]

I'm very interested in Iberia,

I think that you have to take Iberia piece by piece – I'm not sure I find anyone really satisfying in all four books, except maybe Larrocha.

So I think Isaac Orozco is brilliant in El Albacin. I like his spacious style. But I'm not sure it works so well in Fete Dieu. I love Sanchez in the Evocation, but I think he takes El Albecin too quickly, and I didn't really enjoy him in Jerez. And so the story goes on.

I have Querol's recording – it's got a nice authentic exotic  twang to the piano. And at times he's quite unchained,  wild. In Seville, for example.

Larrocha sometimes makes the music sound old fashioned and a bit tame I think. Seville is an example  (you can tell I've thought about Seville and maybe El Albecin more than the rest!) Colourful and quite charismatic though.

I'm very keen to explore this music some more. I really like it.

If anyone can find me a reasonable way to hear Loriod's Iberia I would be very happy.

[Brahmsian]

I'm enthralled and blown away as I'm listening to de Falla's Mazurka, Serenata and Cancion for piano.  Beautiful short piano pieces!  Len Vorster playing the piano on Naxos recording.

[RJR]

You forgot Granados.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I'm enthralled and blown away as I'm listening to de Falla's Mazurka, Serenata and Cancion for piano.  Beautiful short piano pieces!  Len Vorster playing the piano on Naxos recording.

For me, the Harpsichord Concerto is the best thing de Falla ever wrote. Stravinsky greatly admired this work too, and conducted it at least once. How's the performance?

[karlhenning]

I heard the Iberia of the Campanella guitar trio before ever hearing a piano version of the work, and now having tried several I sadly profess to not understanding the appeal of the (original) piano version at all. Could Sanchez or Block solve this for me?

Oh, gosh, Brian!  : )  It's only the day before yesterday I listened to the Trio Campanella disc (who knows when I picked it up, and it was still wrapped); I like it all right, but it really is a piano piece (a marvelous, guitar-y piano piece, but a piano piece).  You subscribe to the Naxos download library, right?  One of their earlier releases was Guillermo Gonzalez playing Iberia complete, and it's always been one of my favorite Naxos recordings.

[karlhenning]

For me, the Harpsichord Concerto is the best thing de Falla ever wrote. Stravinsky greatly admired this work too, and conducted it at least once.

Really a wonderful piece!

[snyprrr]

Anyone familiar with Ernesto or Rodolfo Halffter's piano music?

[Taneyev]

Years ago, Chipriean-Greeck pianist Rena Kuryaku recorded almost complete Albeniz's piano works, since his early pieces to complete Iberia. Of course, Iberia was his masterpiece, and there are many who are just little salon short superficial pieces, but if you really want to know Albeniz in full, she's the choice. And she was really good IMO.

[Todd]

I'm not sure why I bought this set.  (Well, I did find it for around $25.)  I already had an earlier incarnation of Alicia De Larrocha's Hispavox recording of Iberia, and while it has some nice things, I prefer Esteban Sanchez and Michel Block.  I'd read that the newest remasterings sound much better, and so they do (this set has the 2006 remastering), and the piano tone is much better, but my overall impression of the recording didn't change as a result. 

I guess I bought this set for all of the other works.  There's plenty Granados spread across the eight discs, and it is the highlight of the set.  De Larrocha's RCA Goyescas did nothing for me, especially after hearing the far superior Michel Block, but this earlier recording is far superior to her later recording.  Vibrant, nuanced, beautiful, it compares favorably to Block.  Now I can't choose.  The other Granados pieces are all extremely well done, as are the Turina pieces, which may even surpass Sanchez's in quality.  The Falla is superb, too, though here Sanchez remains my easy first choice.  And Antonio Soler's works sound like missing Scarlatti works of greater scale.  (I really need to investigate him more.)  Even the Montsalvatge concert piece is interesting and well played.  Throw in a very nice 1971 recital with Victoria de los Angeles with a variety of Spanish songs, and some other Albeniz items that are quite nice, and overall this set is a winner.

The only real caveat has to do with the sound.  Except for the 1971 recording, there are problems aplenty.  Hispavox apparently didn't hire the best engineers, and as a result the sound can be outright horrid.  There are times when distortion makes the piano sound decidedly un-piano like (almost as bad as in Dino Ciani's LvB cycle!), and others where the venues were inappropriate (the Montsalvatge sounds as though it was recorded in a hangar), though in most cases the sound is acceptable.  Whether or not this collection represents all of De Larrocha's Hispavox recordings I cannot say, but really, isn't her reputation built mostly on Spanish music.  Anyway, I like this set.

[SonicMan46]

Well, this seems to be a thread that could be greatly expanded! 

So many keyboard composers, artists, etc. - a recent acquisition shown below:

Blasco de Nebra, Manuel (1750-1784) - Keyboard Works w/ Carole Cerasi on restored (assumed) original harpsichord & fortepiano - excellent sound & performances; Blasco was a Spaniard, a priest, and respected keyboardist - he left about 172 compositions, but only 30 are extant - 9 of these works are presented on this disc -