
Another all-Spanish disc. Albert Attenelle was the main draw here. I discovered his pianism via streaming, decided I had to listen to his playing in proper sixteen bit, and so snapped up all but one of his recordings. (That's his Granados; I will be getting that at some point.) Here, he is joined by Spanish violist Agustín León Ara in a recording of works by Spanish musicians better known as performers: there are world premiere recordings of the Violin Sonatas by cellists Pablo Casals and his student Gaspar Cassadó, and
Sis Sonnets by conductor Eduard Toldrà. León Ara not only performs on these first recordings, he resurrected the works in the 1970s, including partaking in the first performance of the Casals.
The Casals starts the disc. It's a lengthy work at just over 33' - and it doesn't include a finale. Casals stopped with the Lento third movement. While listening to the opening Allegro, French Violin Sonatas of the Franck or Faure variety, updated with a 1920s Paris vibe (though it was written in 1945) came immediately to mind. The opening movement lasts for over seventeen minutes, and it's multi-sectional, with the end of each section sort of offering a false ending. The music is nice, but it does seem a bit long. The Scherzo is more robust, infused with some fast and slow quasi-dance like elements, and the Lento, save for a quick and robust coda, is lyrical and almost liturgical much of the time, with some stormy outbursts. Overall, it's a nice work.
The Cassadó work comes in at under sixteen minutes, and it starts off with ample energy and sounds unabashedly romantic, belying its 1926 composition date. The opening Fantaisie is very free flowing and at times passionate, and sounds sort of French with hints of generic Spanish and/or Italian influences. The Pastorale is sheer delight, all fun or tender beauty. (Cassadó dedicated the work to his brother, who died in 1914, so perhaps it transmutes memories to music. Or not.) The Finale is vibrant and fantastical, like the opener. This compact work is really quite good and, though not groundbreaking, deserves a wider audience and more recordings. It's the best thing on the disc.
Toldrà's
Sis Sonnets has received other recordings, and it is easy enough to hear why. Like Cassadó's piece, it was penned in the 20s (1922, to be exact), and it is quite romantic and conservative. While big portions of the music are vibrant and extroverted and of the playing to the gallery sort, good portions are more intimate. It's quite good. Some fun Spanish music trivia: Toldrà himself debuted the piece playing violin, along with Federico Mompou's teacher Ferdinand Motte-Lacroix.
Sound for the 2002 recording falls just shy of SOTA, but it's fully modern and superb and offers a realistic representation of two musicians playing in what sounds like a modest sized venue.