In the realm of classical music, my geographic tastes tend to clump into pairs. At the apex stand, uneasily, the Germanic and Gallic composers, staring jealously at one another. Beethoven and Schubert stand on one side, Debussy and Faure on the other, each claiming chunks of my time, each trying to outdo the other. The next geographic duo includes the Czechs and the Spanish. They produce very different composers, these two lands. Spain, though, probably has the edge, for the Spaniards have a great musical legacy spanning centuries. Acknowledging but not counting – though not not counting – the Catalan troubadours of medieval times and other musical traditions championed by the likes of Jordi Savall to start, a solid musical tradition has remained intact. The Spanish Golden Age of Guererro and Victoria and, above all, Morales stands as the true apogee of Renaissance polyphony, the Flemish and the Italians be damned. Damned, I say! Then there's Galan, Nebra, Arriaga, Falla, Turina, Montsalvatge, Rodrigo, and the great, great, great Leonardo Balada, arguably the greatest living composer at the time of this writing. In the realm of keyboard music, Spain has produced at least four titans: Soler, Mompou, Granados, and, of course, Albeniz.
The last I will save for another time, but here and now, it became necessary to examine the greatest keyboard work of Enrique Granados, and one of the greatest keyboard works of all. Using my trademarked and patent pending Scientific Listening Method®, I shall separate wheat from chaff, the mediocre from the great, and objectively evaluate and rank three dozen versions of the work.
As David Letterman once admonished: Please, no wagering.
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#36
Cuban born pianist, professor, and friend to the great Jorge Bolet laid down her version a while back, and given the tenuous Bolet connection, I had to give it a shot. The very slow opening Los requiebros reveals that the pianist can generate a big sonority, but it's quite ugly in places, almost vulgar. The rhythmic elements veer back and forth between fluid and chunky, like an unfortunate can of Dinty Moore stew. Things stabilize a bit in Coloquio en la reja, with the unfortunate chunkiness transmogrifying into more standard clunkiness. And more ugliness. The Fandango ekes out some more enjoyable playing, but some of the accenting and phrasing makes for less than ideally pleasing music-making. El Amor y la Muerte definitely sounds intense and bold in places, and emerges as the best movement here, but it's an unfavorite. That holds true for the whole recording.
I find I enjoy Escandón on some days more than others. I don't hear ugliness (though I guess the sound and the piano could be better) and I don't hear anything approaching vulgarity fortunately. What I definitely find is that if I've got other performances in my head still, Escandón sounds wrong to me - if I approach it having forgotten the likes of Eduardo Del Pueyo or Benita Meshulam or Michel Block or Santa Alicia of the Rock then she sounds more satisfying.
Quote from: Todd on September 26, 2024, 04:14:02 AMIn the realm of classical music, my geographic tastes tend to clump into pairs. At the apex stand, uneasily, the Germanic and Gallic composers, staring jealously at one another. Beethoven and Schubert stand on one side, Debussy and Faure on the other, each claiming chunks of my time, each trying to outdo the other. The next geographic duo includes the Czechs and the Spanish. They produce very different composers, these two lands. Spain, though, probably has the edge, for the Spaniards have a great musical legacy spanning centuries. Acknowledging but not counting – though not not counting – the Catalan troubadours of medieval times and other musical traditions championed by the likes of Jordi Savall to start, a solid musical tradition has remained intact. The Spanish Golden Age of Guererro and Victoria and, above all, Morales stands as the true apogee of Renaissance polyphony, the Flemish and the Italians be damned. Damned, I say! Then there's Galan, Nebra, Arriaga, Falla, Turina, Montsalvatge, Rodrigo, and the great, great, great Leonardo Balada, arguably the greatest living composer at the time of this writing. In the realm of keyboard music, Spain has produced at least four titans: Soler, Mompou, Granados, and, of course, Albeniz.
The last I will save for another time, but here and now, it became necessary to examine the greatest keyboard work of Enrique Granados, and one of the greatest keyboard works of all. Using my trademarked and patent pending Scientific Listening Method®, I shall separate wheat from chaff, the mediocre from the great, and objectively evaluate and rank three dozen versions of the work.
As David Letterman once admonished: Please, no wagering.
Debussy's music sounds half-Spanish to me.
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#35
Martin Jones' recording for Nimbus has that too resonant recorded sound, though it's easily bearable. Jones plays well in terms of hitting the notes, but that's it. It is the least idiomatic recording in this survey. Rhythms don't really sound great, rubato is either not there or kind of drab. Nothing compels. It's not terrible, but nothing is great, either. The Epilogue has the most oomph and succeeds the most, but when one considers the rest of the work, it just kind of falls flat and lacks personality. It sounds like a sight-reading recording, which hopefully it is, because if it is studiously well prepared, that's no good thing. So very meh.
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#34
Abdel Rahman el Bacha, he of two LvB sonata cycles, a complete Chopin set, Prokofiev PCs, and much else, turned his attention to this Spanish work for Triton, which released the recording in 2017. In predictably superb sound, one gets to enjoy some good playing where timings are brisk, the rhythmic component sounds emphasized over the tonal, and any sense of fantasy or programmatic inclination is muted. Little Spanishness, however one wants to define it, seems evident in the Fandango, though el Bacha comes right on back and delivers a nicely flexible and alluring Lament to close out the first book. The Ballad of Love and Death seems somewhat resigned, and could use a bit more passion and sorrow, though the Epilogo benefits from the snappy rhythmic playing. So, nicely played, but lacking in a few areas.
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#33
Shizuka Shimoyama benefits from splendid recorded sound in her take. She plays everything well, with clean articulation and multiple displays of high end digital dexterity. What goes missing is idiomatic playing. Sure, she mixes up the rhythms and adds color and delivers wide-ranging dynamics, but it doesn't jell, it doesn't evoke any real passion or sense of romance or sense of Spanish style. Tonal beauty and fine execution do not guarantee greatness.
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#32
Aldo Ciccolini's take is a swift, cleanly played, virtuosic, straight ahead to a big fault take that ends up just sounding meh. Yes, he hits the notes, he plays loud or quiet as needed, slows down some in the slowest passages. What's largely absent is rhythmic variability, expressive rubato, or expression generally. It almost seems like another sight-reading recording, or a contract gig assigned at short notice. This was likely the last time I listen to the recording. The occasionally audible tape saturation does not help matters.
Ciccolini is a cold dead fish marinated in French perfume.
Quote from: Todd on September 30, 2024, 04:08:38 AM(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/i9AAAMXQYwFRgVFb/s-l1600.webp)
#32
Aldo Ciccolini's take is a swift, cleanly played, virtuosic, straight ahead to a big fault take that ends up just sounding meh. Yes, he hits the notes, he plays loud or quiet as needed, slows down some in the slowest passages. What's largely absent is rhythmic variability, expressive rubato, or expression generally. It almost seems like another sight-reading recording, or a contract gig assigned at short notice. This was likely the last time I listen to the recording. The occasionally audible tape saturation does not help matters.
I listened to
Ciccolini's
Goyescas just a couple of days ago, ad found it very disppointing (but I do remember liking his
Iberia, which now I will have to revisit).
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#31
Leopoldo Querol's Ducretet-Thomson recording from the early 50s, like Eduardo del Pueyo's later mono recording, has a big mono sound. That becomes evident with the dynamic swings, which sound broad enough to satisfy. Querol's tonal palette does not sound as diverse as other pianists, and his rhythm, while variable and in tune with the music, sometimes sounds a little heavy-handed when compared with other pianists. He can and does do good work when he slows things down and plays with more nuance. El Amor y la Muerte comes off best, with a bit less intensity and weight, and a bit more forlorn introspection tossed in, and the Epilogue maintains the same overall feel. So, the work gets better as it goes on, but a stronger finish does not make up for a weaker start.
Totally agree -- I listened to Querol just a few days ago.
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#30
Beatrice Berthold briefly recorded for EMI about thirty years ago, yielding three discs, including this one. Naxos has reissued most of the music from them. She has also made some additional recordings on small labels in the intervening years. Ms Berthold certainly displays chops right from the get-go here. Her take on Los requiebros glitters and shimmers, with a nice combination of bright color and digital dexterity. She offers more of the same in Coloquio en la reja, and indeed, in the rest of the work. But what it lacks is Spanishness, an idiomatic feel. That's an amorphous assertion, to be sure, but here I mean that while she certainly shows command of the keyboard, being able to belt out a crescendo or play with clarity – or not, if needed – she does not deliver the minutely tapered note values or the ear catching rubato of others. In terms of just offering some sweet ivory tickling, it succeeds.
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#29
Emili Brugalla is a Spanish pianist whose Google translated bio states that we started off as self-taught before moving on to formal training. Ain't no thing. Arcadi Volodos purportedly didn't even take up the piano until he was a teenager, and he turned out fine. So did Brugalla, though on evidence of this recording, he does not have the Russian-born Spanish resident's facility. He does play the work swiftly across the board, with each movement quicker than normal. The best shorthand way to describe him is as like Beatrice Berthold, but with more rhythmic variability and more rubato, and in a few places, a marginally more colorful sound. Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor ends up the relative high point here, as it flows beautifully, from beginning to end.
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#28
Ana-Maria Vera's take is clear and clean with striking dynamic contrasts overshadowing the rhythmic fluidity and flexibility of some other versions. There's directness to it, too, that sort of obviates any sense of poetry or romance. As such, listening becomes something of an exercise in picking out voices and melodic lines and following them, appreciating the precise execution of an arpeggio here or trills there. The recorded sound is clear, but perhaps a little too close, as the loudest playing sounds hard, nearly brittle, but there's something simultaneously refreshing about hearing such hearty thwacks.
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#27
Xiayin Wang counts among the current generation of pianists who seem to face no technical challenges whatsoever, and one hears that throughout her recording. It's the second swiftest in the survey, and at no point does she seem to even break a sweat. In some ways, it comes off as an updated version of Beatrice Berthold's take, sounding even sleeker. Wang manages to make even some fast passages sound relaxed in tempo when they are not, and she moves up and down the keyboard nonchalantly, dispatches perfectly calibrated crescendos and diminuendos, plays with supremely fine clarity of voices. Bass weight is ample where needed, delicate pianissimo is as delicate as can be, and so forth. The sheen of technical perfection holds much appeal, but one can't escape the feeling that something more affecting goes missing.
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#26
Thomas Rajna's take is the second slowest in the survey, and start to finish there's a unique feel of leisurely tension. He doesn't offer the same degree of free-wheeling rubato and rhythmic changeups found in better versions, but he offers some unique clarity of voices, where one can hear, with striking ease, some accompaniment figurations underlying the melodies. Rajna's take is also less colorful than many versions, but there's stark beauty in his more limited palette. While Rajna can and does crank up the volume, the extended timings often make the most dramatic playing seem like momentary outbursts in long streams of notes, sapping passion a bit, but replacing it with a different vibe. In the long El Amor y la Muerte, the vibe is one of solemnity and introspection, and it's less immediate than other takes. There's a calculated, abstract feel to the playing. That's not a complaint, per se, but it yields a different effect. The Epilogue has a bit more intensity in it, but it retains the calculated feel, but that's OK, and all the more so since Rajna also recorded all of Granados' piano music in a handy set.
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#25
Jean-François Heisser's recording is recorded very closely and very dryly, creating a salon-ish vibe rather than a full-blooded, robust one. It almost sounds like it's played on a baby grand. That means big, beefy forte playing goes missing pretty much altogether. On the flip side, it means details rarely get buried in the mix. Combine that with Heisser's remarkably fluid, easy, almost graceful style, and this recording offers a different approach to the work. It has an almost easy listening sound, but that is meant in a positive manner, as the whole thing just unfolds at a comfortable but not slow pace, and the constrained dynamics help create an at times almost Debussyan sound. Nice, if not one of the greats.
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#24
Jean-Philippe Collard's recording offers something appealing right from the start in that he manages to blend a relaxed and colorful sound to a basically perfectly average overall timing. Los requiebros flows beautifully, it has quicksilver tempo changes, but everything maintains a leisurely feel. The downside is that stark dynamic contrasts evident in some other recordings largely go missing, but that's fine. The same fell carries right over to Coloquio en la reja, which has some extended passages of downright gorgeous playing. The Fandango pulls off the neat trick of maintaining nice rhythmic flair yet sounding slower than it actually is. After a lovely Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor, the meatiest bit arrives in a El Amor y la Muerte, possessed of ample scale and heft, and a sort of romantic reminiscing of no little appeal. The Epilogue closes out very nicely, and caps an older pianist's take.
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#23
Everyone's favorite Tunisian born pianist Jean-Marc Luisada wastes no time in demonstrating his tendency to insert individual touches everywhere. Whether in his DG or his even more idiosyncratic RCA recordings, he plays around with tempi all over, emphasizes or exaggerates both loud and soft playing, plays with remarkable clarity except when he doesn't, and so on. He has the chops to pull off his conceptions. Taking the message of a Michel Dalberto masterclass on this piece to heart, he likes to exaggerate. Los requiebros, while middle of the road tempo wise, mixes some slow passages with some swifter than normal passages, especially as the coda approaches, to sound faster than its timing suggest. After that, Luisada is slower than normal, as per usual, giving himself some breathing space in slower passages, stretching out some sections, compressing others, and he also throws in some bold, heavy forte playing for dramatic effect. One cannot deny his effective use of silence, of pauses, of holding notes for just the right length of time. There's a studied feel to his playing, but there's also a romantic feel.
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#22
Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz manages to bring the overall work in at a slightly below average timing, though she never deviates too much from the mathematical averages for any movement. At the same time, she exudes a sort of fluid, sporadically energetic and sporadically smoothed out and nearly lackadaisical sound. There's an effortless feel, like she's just sort of playing whimsically. Come the Fandango, Ortiz amps things up, displaying both rhythmic vitality and nifty dynamic contrasts, offering a shift from the two opening movements. She expertly mixes styles, both languid and unabashedly impassioned, in El Amor y la Muerte, a closes out with a strongly characterized Epilogue.
Quote from: Todd on October 10, 2024, 03:58:22 AM(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51be53qEGkL._SX425_SY425_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg)
#22
Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz manages to bring the overall work in at a slightly below average timing, though she never deviates too much from the mathematical averages for any movement. At the same time, she exudes a sort of fluid, sporadically energetic and sporadically smoothed out and nearly lackadaisical sound. There's an effortless feel, like she's just sort of playing whimsically. Come the Fandango, Ortiz amps things up, displaying both rhythmic vitality and nifty dynamic contrasts, offering a shift from the two opening movements. She expertly mixes styles, both languid and unabashedly impassioned, in El Amor y la Muerte, a closes out with a strongly characterized Epilogue.
Very good find
@Todd .
Quote from: Mandryka on October 10, 2024, 07:02:43 AMVery good find @Todd .
Ms Ortiz is a fine pianist and the relatively few recordings I've heard from her fairly broad discography have all been good. She has recorded for many labels, so she will likely never get a big box treatment. She does have enough EMI recordings to warrant a small box. Her Collins recordings appear destined for digital-only distribution from now until the end of time, but if they remain available, that's fine.
Quote from: Todd on October 10, 2024, 03:58:22 AM(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51be53qEGkL._SX425_SY425_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg)
#22
Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz manages to bring the overall work in at a slightly below average timing, though she never deviates too much from the mathematical averages for any movement. At the same time, she exudes a sort of fluid, sporadically energetic and sporadically smoothed out and nearly lackadaisical sound. There's an effortless feel, like she's just sort of playing whimsically. Come the Fandango, Ortiz amps things up, displaying both rhythmic vitality and nifty dynamic contrasts, offering a shift from the two opening movements. She expertly mixes styles, both languid and unabashedly impassioned, in El Amor y la Muerte, a closes out with a strongly characterized Epilogue.
In Fandango and the introduction, her rhythm is like 3/4 rather than 6/8. Sounding classical/salon more than Andalusian. You just don't hear a sound of castanet in the music. Her performance is nice, but the likability of her approach may depend on listeners' preferences. Champaign piano, nice change.
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#21
The marvelous Ms Melikyan, born in Armenian but a Spaniard since her teen years, brings her formidable chops to the work. Her playing tends toward the nimble, very cleanly articulated, comparatively light most of the time. While no slouch in the rhythm and color departments, she does not tickle the ear like the best of the best here. She does impart ample drive to the Fandango and some deep, rich lower registers playing in El Amor y la Muerte, to go with some striking intensity and drama. The Epilogue comes off relatively major in comparative terms, carrying almost as much weight as the preceding movement.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 10, 2024, 08:07:00 PMIn Fandango and the introduction, her rhythm is like 3/4 rather than 6/8. Sounding classical/salon more than Andalusian. You just don't hear a sound of castanet in the music. Her performance is nice, but the likability of her approach may depend on listeners' preferences. Champaign piano, nice change.
It is hard to get everything in this music - colours, intimacy, clarity of the voices etc.
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#20
Alicia de Larrocha's first of four appearances comes in the form of her fourth and final studio recording from 1989. It boasts reasonably high end recorded sound and benefits from decades of performance experience with the piece. Despite being her last recording of the work, made when she was in her late 60s, it is not the slowest – that distinction goes to her first recording for Decca from the mid-50s. What one gets here then is a performance that while about a minute faster than average sounds entirely relaxed. Nothing sounds rushed, nothing sounds too intense. That is partly due to the fact that maximum dynamic contrasts are not as pronounced as other versions, and forte playing lacks the punch of others. Larrocha's rhythmic command is absolute, but it doesn't manifest itself in speedy, snappy playing all the time, no sir. She varies it, sometimes almost continuously, and her rubato is fluid if less pronounced in some of her earlier efforts. There are no hard edges, no truly biting sforzandi, no lack of attractiveness throughout. The Fandango basically sounds irresistible, as one would expect, but El Amor y la Muerte, while dramatic, lacks the ultimate oomph or tragic forlornness of other takes. It's still none too shabby, though.
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#19
New to me Alex Alguacil is a Spanish pianist young enough so that he really ought to have a better website. With his comparative youth comes the advantage of breaking the decades-long curse of Spanish pianists not being recorded well. That swell recording helps out. Alguacil opts to start with a slow, languid Los requiebros, but one where be brings the tonal beauty and a host of other neat tricks. Playing with multiple simultaneous dynamic levels, sometimes with both altering at once, is one such trick. Extreme clarity mixed up with seductive legato is another. Clear voicing is another. These traits permeate the work, which has an easy undulating and lyrical quality everywhere. His combination of traits ends up making Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sound very Albénizian, which cannot be counted a bad thing. El Amor y la Muerte has drama and beefy low registers, which always works, and some of the playing evokes Bachian organ music, which also cannot be counted a bad thing. The Epilogue keeps in line with the rest of the stronger than expected take. Full disclosure: I had no expectations going in.
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#18
Javier Negrin starts off his take with a comparatively light sounding, right hand dominated Los requiebros, almost as if he wants to portray the piece as a long, unaccompanied song. The varied simultaneous dynamics in some passages, clearly emphasizing the melody, really work well. Negrin's style becomes almost salonish in Coloquio en la reja, so well calibrated and often "small" sounding the playing. Observation only. It works splendidly. The Fandango, the quickest in the group, is snappy and light and dancy and damned if I don't detect whiffs o' Soler in there. Nice! The slow and at times gossamer light playing in Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sounds all yummy. One could reasonably expect a light take to yield a sub-optimal El Amor y la Muerte, and so it goes, but the tradeoff in terms of clarity offsets some of the listening woe. The Epilogue has a sense of resignation and some nifty strumming effects peppered throughout to end strongly.
Quote from: Todd on October 13, 2024, 04:22:24 AM(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41pbnDNg0qL._UX425_FMwebp_QL85_.jpg)
#19
New to me Alex Alguacil is a Spanish pianist young enough so that he really ought to have a better website. With his comparative youth comes the advantage of breaking the decades-long curse of Spanish pianists not being recorded well. That swell recording helps out. Alguacil opts to start with a slow, languid Los requiebros, but one where be brings the tonal beauty and a host of other neat tricks. Playing with multiple simultaneous dynamic levels, sometimes with both altering at once, is one such trick. Extreme clarity mixed up with seductive legato is another. Clear voicing is another. These traits permeate the work, which has an easy undulating and lyrical quality everywhere. His combination of traits ends up making Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sound very Albénizian, which cannot be counted a bad thing. El Amor y la Muerte has drama and beefy low registers, which always works, and some of the playing evokes Bachian organ music, which also cannot be counted a bad thing. The Epilogue keeps in line with the rest of the stronger than expected take. Full disclosure: I had no expectations going in.
Nice performance with fine interpretation.
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#17
Among pianists who conjure massive sonorities, including Prats and Pueyo, none are more massive than Garrick Ohlsson's. Beyond huge sound, he deploys limitless technique to add almost ridiculous levels of suppleness to some of his playing. He will go from an imposing, towering sound to delicate and dainty on a dime, and it feels right and sounds swell. In pretty much every Ohlsson recording I have heard, he comes across as a virtuoso always just humming along, capable of ripping through the music at thrice the speed without effort, or conversely of stretching it out to the Nth degree while not breaking the line, and that is true here. The bigger, slower movements sound romantic and passionate, but also languid and loose. They sound slower than their timings suggest, which is always nice, because that means Ohlsson leaves the listener wanting more. The shorter, swifter movements basically go the other way, sounding slower than they are, and the whole work, atmospheric and fully engaged, manages to be on the quick side while always sounding at ease. Overall, no little satisfaction can be derived from this set.
It's kind of remarkable that even by #20 we were in the realm of really good-sounding performances with enticing descriptions. I guess this is a work where we're truly spoiled for choice.
Quote from: Brian on October 15, 2024, 07:47:53 AMIt's kind of remarkable that even by #20 we were in the realm of really good-sounding performances with enticing descriptions. I guess this is a work where we're truly spoiled for choice.
Positions 8-12 were tough to place given the uniformly very high quality. One pianist I was certain would be in the top ten going in ended up not making the cut.
And I didn't listen to even half the available recordings . . .
Quote from: Brian on October 15, 2024, 07:47:53 AMIt's kind of remarkable that even by #20 we were in the realm of really good-sounding performances with enticing descriptions. I guess this is a work where we're truly spoiled for choice.
I feel the opposite. I think most of the performances I hear are really unsatisfying. Some of them intolerable in fact -- f.e. Luisada.
What kind of scale does the number indicate? Favorability for Todd in an inverse scale?
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 15, 2024, 08:23:35 AMWhat kind of scale does the number indicate? Favorability for Todd in an inverse scale?
Yes.
Quote from: Mandryka on October 15, 2024, 08:09:22 AMI feel the opposite. I think most of the performances I hear are really unsatisfying. Some of them intolerable in fact -- f.e. Luisada.
I'm reading with interest because actually the only performance so far that has really 'clicked' for me is the Jorge Luis Prats live recital. I'm hoping it ranks high and Todd's description clues me in to other, similar artists whose approaches I'd also like. The recording I grew up on was the #20 digital Larrocha and the only one I've bought since I think is #25 Heisser in his Spanish box set.
Quote from: Brian on October 15, 2024, 08:40:59 AMYes.
I'm reading with interest because actually the only performance so far that has really 'clicked' for me is the Jorge Luis Prats live recital. I'm hoping it ranks high and Todd's description clues me in to other, similar artists whose approaches I'd also like. The recording I grew up on was the #20 digital Larrocha and the only one I've bought since I think is #25 Heisser in his Spanish box set.
I wish he had started with number one.
Quote from: Brian on October 15, 2024, 08:40:59 AMI'm hoping it ranks high
You know for sure that it ranks higher than #17.
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#16
Eduardo del Pueyo's old mono recording, as remastered, sounds so good and so big that stereo is not needed. This is a big mono recording, and that becomes clear quickly. Pueyo starts off Los requiebros in a robust manner, one that mixes weight, potency, and flexibility. It never sounds heavy or stodgy, and when he cranks up the volume, the sound sounds weightier, with no edge, and quite remarkably, the apparent dynamic range here exceeds some stereo recordings. While his playing does not sound as subtle as some others, the tradeoff is that it sounds masculine, meaning direct and bold, yet the pianist is no brute. He also not too studied or too obsessed with details; there's an almost improvisatory, one take (or minimum take) feel, and his subtle vocalizing adds to the feel. As he backs off in the gentlest passages of Coloquio en la reja, there's delicacy, though there's also tape saturation in the loudest passages, hinting at mixing desk fiddling. (That's OK.) The weighty playing in the Fandango gives it an earthy/rustic feel, meaning just a bit rough around the edges but idiomatic. Pueyo delivers one of the swiftest takes on El Amor y la Muerte, which here sounds almost punched out to start, so potent is the bass, and it has a passionate energy throughout. And wouldn't you know it, the Epilogue sounds like a serenade much of the time, albeit a punchy one.
Quote from: Todd on October 16, 2024, 03:44:42 AM(https://i.discogs.com/sBtr7fH6HdaMvkSmRjFNuE1B28et09JmJzggSnKcpYc/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:535/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTExNjU4/ODM3LTE2NTk0ODQw/NzgtODU2Ni5qcGVn.jpeg)
#16
Eduardo del Pueyo's old mono recording, as remastered, sounds so good and so big that stereo is not needed. This is a big mono recording, and that becomes clear quickly. Pueyo starts off Los requiebros in a robust manner, one that mixes weight, potency, and flexibility. It never sounds heavy or stodgy, and when he cranks up the volume, the sound sounds weightier, with no edge, and quite remarkably, the apparent dynamic range here exceeds some stereo recordings. While his playing does not sound as subtle as some others, the tradeoff is that it sounds masculine, meaning direct and bold, yet the pianist is no brute. He also not too studied or too obsessed with details; there's an almost improvisatory, one take (or minimum take) feel, and his subtle vocalizing adds to the feel. As he backs off in the gentlest passages of Coloquio en la reja, there's delicacy, though there's also tape saturation in the loudest passages, hinting at mixing desk fiddling. (That's OK.) The weighty playing in the Fandango gives it an earthy/rustic feel, meaning just a bit rough around the edges but idiomatic. Pueyo delivers one of the swiftest takes on El Amor y la Muerte, which here sounds almost punched out to start, so potent is the bass, and it has a passionate energy throughout. And wouldn't you know it, the Epilogue sounds like a serenade much of the time, albeit a punchy one.
Two off topic posts, I hope you don't mind. If you do, just say and I'll delete it.
1. I think del Pueyo's Danzas Españolas are at least as good as his Goyescas.
2. Your conception of "masculine" in this context - I would use it to describe Morten Zeuthen's Bach, which I've been listening to this evening. Recommended.
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#15
Lisztian pedagogical line pianist Artur Pizarro very often favors slow tempi and soft-edged playing filled with subtle color and nuance and teeny, tiny dynamic gradations, and so it goes here. One can hear it in the opening bars, which sound like nothing other than a gentle Barcarolle to start. The frequent use of halting rhythms breaks up the flow in Los requiebros, yet the tiered dynamics and unique voicings, and the rounded piano tone (partly or largely due to the Blüthner used), nonetheless satisfy. The same beautiful, lyricism-focused playing permeates Coloquio en la reja. Here, though, he peppers his playing with some beefy forte playing, though he maintains his anti-virtuosic vibe. He turns up the wick and zips through the Fandango, then settles back into notably slower than average playing right through to the end. Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sounds almost ridiculously beautiful, to the point that William Youn's eyebrows might be raised – in agreement. Some of the trills veer into late LvB territory. The entire second book blends the slower than normal, tonally lustrous, languid style with some punchy, potent playing into a musical elixir of no little tastiness.
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#14
Alicia de Larrocha's third shot at the work comes off somewhat lighter, more playful, and, well, sunnier in Los requiebros when compared to the other three recordings. Coloquio en la reja moves in the gentler, less contrasty style of the RCA recording, and there's a lot of that here. While the Fandango and Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor come off splendidly, the slightly softer overall approach married to Decca's mid-70s imperfect piano sound means that El Amor y la Muerte doesn't have the same wallop that the Hispavox recording does. (More on that later.) The Epilogue has a sort of sly feel to it in the opening, with Larrocha slinking across the lower registers, in particular. So, very nice, but not her best effort.
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#13
Viviana Lasaracina's recording is the slowest overall take in this survey, taking nearly sixty-three minutes to complete. One hears what she's all about in Los requiebros, where she plays the slower music very slowly in many places, taking her time, playing gently, and bringing the music to a pause in many places, allowing the listener to savor the silence. She maintains the musical line and her rhythmic control is excellent, even when playing slow. To be sure, she plays faster music quickly, with heft and color. She does not bring the same flexibility and (perhaps) idiomatic rhythmic flair that the very best versions do. She does bring a sense of irresistible languidness to Coloquio en la reja, which comes in at fourteen minutes. It meanders, it wanders, it lazily unfolds. The Fandango remains slow in comparative terms, but has the requisite verve, while Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor mixes leisureliness and energy nicely. El Amor y la Muerte lasts a quarter of an hour, and many passages are slow burns, demonstrate subdued passion, and when she does let loose, it's nice, but not as potent or weighty as other versions. It does, however, blend perfectly with her conception. She closes out with a sometimes boisterous Epilogue. Overall, this recording falls squarely into the slow interpretation camp, where Ms Lasaracina is joined by pianists like Rajna, Luisada, Paik, and Perianes. Not everyone will dig slow takes. I kinda do, and not a little in some cases.
A long duration of performance doesn't equate to a slow performance, especially for Teresa Escandon.
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#12
Pianist, teacher, star of MGM musicals with her older brother José Iturbi, Dame Amparo Iturbi's version, laid down in the mid-50s, is the swiftest version of the ones under consideration in this survey at just a smidge under forty-six-and-a-half minutes. Adjusting to the limitations of the recorded sound is easy enough, with some overload marring the loudest passages. The playing has a remarkably unburdened feel to it, by which is meant that it sounds as though Iturbi simply plays the notes, quickly, without excess rubato or pedaling or anything else. The extra-speediness in the faster passages allows her to play some of the slower passages at a still quick clip, but the tempo contrasts work well. At times, her swift directness pays dividends, as in Conversation at the Window, which sounds like chipper flirting with whimsy tossed in. The Fandango has spice 'n' zing, with accenting and rhythmic snap that really satisfies. While a couple rough notes appear, Iturbi delivers the passionate goods in El Amor y la Muerte, where surely romanticism ought to rule. Throw in a zippy El Pelele, and the proto-Larrocha puts in a real nice disc.
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#11
Spanish pedagogue Albert Attenelle starts off with a leisurely Los requiebros, meandering his way through, in a manner suggesting that he's strolling along with a gal pal, taking in the aroma of roses, and gently saying just the sweetest things, up until the vigorous coda. He marries digital clarity with smooth delivery most adroitly. Leisureliness returns with the open of Coloquio en la reja, but that clean yet smooth delivery remains. The Fandango is pushed forward with some unique syncopation in places, and sounds crisply guitarish. El Amor y la Muerte sounds pointed and passionate, but it's a bit leaner than some other versions. Observation not critique. The Epilogue has more distinctive rhythmic playing and closes out a strong version. All of Attenelle's Spanish piano music recordings hit the spot.
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#10
Joaquín Achúcarro's 1980 analog recording carries the Spanish curse of sub-par sound married to extremely fine interpretation. Alicia de Larrocha's Hispavox recording also succumbs to that curse (more on that later). Achúcarro's playing, though, sounds thoroughly idiomatic beginning to end. Once can imagine him showing up late to a recital at a repurposed church, plopping down on a stool, taking his time setting up, and then just launching into this. The overall timing is near dead-on average, but this is a recording where timings hide much more than they reveal. Achúcarro meanders almost listlessly (and definitely Lisztlessly) through large swathes of the opening two movements, not only stopping to smell the roses, but also to sit and sip on a café cortado. He plinks out limpid yet smooth high register playing, adding dashes of color, beefs up in the lower registers without weighing anything down, and sort of just oozes the music through his fingers. Rubato and rhythm sounds spot on. And yet for all this, when he needs to play fast, he just speeds up, plays as cleanly as one could wish for, and perfectly maintains the flow. After a suitably spunky Fandango, Achúcarro ends Book I and starts Book II with just supremely fine takes on Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor and El Amor y la Muerte, respectively. (And that final chord of Muerte, woo, doggy!) A fine Epilogue closes out an extremely fine version. Except for the recorded sound.
Quote from: Todd on October 06, 2024, 04:18:59 AM(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51L0qGAK1UL._SY425_SX425_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg)
#26
Thomas Rajna's take is the second slowest in the survey, and start to finish there's a unique feel of leisurely tension. He doesn't offer the same degree of free-wheeling rubato and rhythmic changeups found in better versions, but he offers some unique clarity of voices, where one can hear, with striking ease, some accompaniment figurations underlying the melodies. Rajna's take is also less colorful than many versions, but there's stark beauty in his more limited palette. While Rajna can and does crank up the volume, the extended timings often make the most dramatic playing seem like momentary outbursts in long streams of notes, sapping passion a bit, but replacing it with a different vibe. In the long El Amor y la Muerte, the vibe is one of solemnity and introspection, and it's less immediate than other takes. There's a calculated, abstract feel to the playing. That's not a complaint, per se, but it yields a different effect. The Epilogue has a bit more intensity in it, but it retains the calculated feel, but that's OK, and all the more so since Rajna also recorded all of Granados' piano music in a handy set.
Likable performance.
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#9
Everyone's favorite Detroit ivory tickler, Edmund Battersby, recorded this version way back in 1990, and 'twas nominated for a Grammy in 1991. The nominating folks got one right. Right from the outset, this take is unabashedly romantic, with Los requiebros starting off daringly slow before seamlessly moving into quick, robust, almost ideally inflected playing. Coloquio en la reja takes nearly a minute longer than normal, but at no point does it sound slow. Rather, it sounds impassioned but often held back at the same time. The same cannot be written about the Fandango, which has snap, crackle, pop and sounds maximally extroverted, with Battersby's digital dexterity a thing to marvel at. Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor flits between moods and dynamic levels with aplomb, and fades gently away. That gentleness is rudely and brilliantly interrupted by the thundering open of El Amor y la Muerte, which then moves back and forth between pensive slow playing, and swift, impassioned forte playing that evokes nothing less than Liszt's Dante sonata in terms of passion and heat and drama. Yeah. The Epilogue mixes introspection and pianistic color and flashes of virtuosic display in perfect measure. A dark horse recording.
Mr Battersby's recording makes one lament the fact that vast numbers of Koch Schwann recordings remain unreissued. What other gems are in that catalog, I mean other than Gotthard Kladetzky's complete LvB Piano Music (not just sonatas) and some Haydn by PBS? Mr Battersby is also one of two pianists in this survey who taught at Bloomington at the time of his death while only in his 60s. A real loss, indeed.
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#8
Luis Fernando Pérez benefits from tip-top-tier recorded sound in his set, which only enhances his style. That style is slow, but not leisurely; colorful and serious; and about the subtlest of subtleties. Sure, he thwacks out perfectly controlled forte passages, but in the slow, delicate music, he plays a pianissimo to piano range of at least eight-bit differentiation. His ability to hold this or that note for just a smidgeon longer than one first thinks he will and to also keep the flow going is really most remarkable. The opening two movements hypnotize the listener with such playing. The Fandango is close to average in timing, and it has flair and drive, but it's less snappy than some other takes, but no less effective. Entirely predictably, Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sounds gorgeous and passionate, but not ever overwrought, with hints of restraint. Pérez then takes the liberty on inserting an entire additional movement, the Intermezzo from the opera setting of the work. It's a nice, very Spanish sounding addition, and doesn't detract at all. The listener can always program it out or skip it, as inadvisable as that may be. (Pérez is not the only pianist to fiddle with the piece at the movement level.) El Amor y la Muerte is long and slow, and while weight and lower register richness is on offer, it is the slow, somber, yet achingly beautiful playing that really stands out here. The Epilogue is very slow, and in places one luxuriates as Pérez stretches entire figures out, and the overall impact has a satisfying unvirtuosic ending.
If Goyescas can broadly be split into faster, more robust takes, and slower, more languid, aural painting takes, Pérez obviously falls into the latter category. Beguilingly so.
The challenge which the romantics have is to make it sound natural, spontaneous, unpretentious, modest. I guess this is always the way with embellishments, and my experience with Baroque harpsichord music shows me that I myself find one and the same embellishments feel unwanted and ugly at one time, beautiful and natural at another.
Listening to the great Michel Block now - listening to Pérez and Battersby and Luisada helps to get his achievement into perspective.
Quote from: Todd on October 19, 2024, 04:23:57 AM(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Nm5Iapi0L._UX425_FMwebp_QL85_.jpg)
#13
Viviana Lasaracina's recording is the slowest overall take in this survey, taking nearly sixty-three minutes to complete. One hears what she's all about in Los requiebros, where she plays the slower music very slowly in many places, taking her time, playing gently, and bringing the music to a pause in many places, allowing the listener to savor the silence. She maintains the musical line and her rhythmic control is excellent, even when playing slow. To be sure, she plays faster music quickly, with heft and color. She does not bring the same flexibility and (perhaps) idiomatic rhythmic flair that the very best versions do. She does bring a sense of irresistible languidness to Coloquio en la reja, which comes in at fourteen minutes. It meanders, it wanders, it lazily unfolds. The Fandango remains slow in comparative terms, but has the requisite verve, while Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor mixes leisureliness and energy nicely. El Amor y la Muerte lasts a quarter of an hour, and many passages are slow burns, demonstrate subdued passion, and when she does let loose, it's nice, but not as potent or weighty as other versions. It does, however, blend perfectly with her conception. She closes out with a sometimes boisterous Epilogue. Overall, this recording falls squarely into the slow interpretation camp, where Ms Lasaracina is joined by pianists like Rajna, Luisada, Paik, and Perianes. Not everyone will dig slow takes. I kinda do, and not a little in some cases.
Interesting playing. Reminds me of Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk.
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#7
Old man Paik has come a long way from some of his more youthful recordings, such as his blue hot Scriabin, to deliver a leisurely take on this work. To be sure, he has always been able to go for the extended recording, as his extra-slow take on Liszt's Benediction De Dieu Dans La Solitude demonstrates. This recording, though, seems slightly different. The tempi are indeed slow throughout, but nothing too extreme. It seems that Paik chose to sort of luxuriate and ruminate on the piece. One hears it all through Los requiebros, which though it can and does exude some loud, beefy playing, has an almost lilting rhythm throughout, and ravishing, deliberate quiet playing everywhere its appropriate. Coloquio en la reja remains focused on introspective beauty throughout. While Paik generally gets the rhythms right, and plays with lovely rubato, the music sounds not so much Spanish as like an abstract musical dream, kind of gently unfolding and moving sort of aimlessly from beauty to beauty. The Fandango is slower than normal, but it evokes both dancing and slow guitar plucking expertly, in a robust impressionistic manner. Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sounds slower than it is thanks to experts pauses, lovely steadiness, and Paik's ability to play gently and beautifully and steadily, and those gentle trills, oh my. El Amor y la Muerte starts off dark and heavy, and Paik brings the weight where needed, but mostly the movement slowly moves along, beautiful as all get out, sounding solemn and sorrowful and wistful at once. The slow Epilogue starts with exaggerated, stumbling rhythm and moves along in a fantastical, ethereal, but weighty way, sometimes slowing to a crawl, sometimes revving up, sometimes overwhelming, sometimes not. 'Tis nice. Real nice. The same can be written of the whole recording.
Todd, you use the term "science" on several posts/threads, but you may want to be careful about the terminology as there are a few social and natural scientists in the GMG community. You may want to check the debate between Kuhn and Popper.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 25, 2024, 06:41:46 AMbut you may want to be careful about the terminology as there are a few social and natural scientists in the GMG community
Careful? Please elaborate.
The primary question in science is "How?" How is it structured? How does it work? When applied to performance of music, this perspective morphed to questions like "How should this be played?" or "How should it not be played?", "Was this played correctly or incorrectly?" — in other words, a strictly administrative, legalistic, or bureaucratic angle. This approach certainly has its place, no problem. But a performance can just as well be evaluated through other questions: "Why is this being performed?", "Who is performing this?", "For whom is it being played?", "Why not play it this way?" And so on. It's important to note that the bureaucratic (or let's call it scientific) perspective is in conflict with these other viewpoints.
Quote from: Todd on October 25, 2024, 08:16:03 AMCareful? Please elaborate.
You may want to call only real science "science" as you don't call pizza or ramen noodle "pasta." The wrongful usage of the term science sounds like snake oil at best and it may have a legal consequence at worst. It will lower your credibility anyway.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 25, 2024, 08:25:34 AMYou may want to call only real science "science" as you don't call pizza or ramen noodle "pasta." The wrongful usage of the term science sounds like snake oil at best and it may have a legal consequence at worst.
LOL. It just gets better.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 25, 2024, 08:25:34 AMand it may have a legal consequence at worst.
Please elaborate on this point specifically. Be as precise and comprehensive as possible. What are the potential legal consequences? I really want your professional legal advice on this matter.
Lock the thread NOW!
Quote from: Mandryka on October 25, 2024, 08:45:15 AMLock the thread NOW!
I think it makes sense to first understand potential legal consequences of posts about Spanish piano music recordings, or any other recordings, with the person who brought up the topic of legal consequences providing clear and comprehensive information on the topic. One would think that only an attorney would broach that subject.
My fault, folks. I thought Brett was making a dry joke with his post and I confess I did laugh, during the time when I thought it was intended to produce a laugh.
DBK - Todd has been calling his listening projects "science" for months or maybe years. It is self-deprecating humor. He is ranking the performances according to what his own ears tell him, and obviously, self-perception is not "scientific method," so he using that term to add a little irony. The underlying message is that you should listen to the performances yourself to decide for yourself.
Quote from: Todd on October 25, 2024, 09:00:25 AMI think it makes sense to first understand potential legal consequences of posts about Spanish piano music recordings, or any other recordings, with the person who brought up the topic of legal consequences providing clear and comprehensive information on the topic. One would think that only an attorney would broach that subject.
Well, let me say that I appreciate this thread very much, and I was kind of hoping it wouldn't become derailed.
Ok sorry about derailing the subject on this nice thread. I like this thread too. Brian, if you think its better for the thread, please remove my comments. Todd, I'm looking forward to reading your posts on other recordings on this thread. Thank you for your contributions.
It's OK, no harm after all. I'll be busy until tomorrow morning. If everyone still wants the digression removed, or if more debating happens, I'll do so at that time. But if it is all peace, calm, and Spanish piano discussions, I might leave it be. :)
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 24, 2024, 08:02:23 PMInteresting playing. Reminds me of Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk.
Reminds me of Afanassiev's Chopin mazurkas and nocturnes, and his Brahms intermezzi. Very good tone and cantabile. I like that sort of thing very much.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 25, 2024, 09:26:23 AMTodd, I'm looking forward to reading your posts on other recordings on this thread.
And I'm looking forward to your post, informed by your vast professional legal experience and knowledge, to explain how the "wrongful usage of the term science" (your words) could have a "legal consequence" (your words), and specifically what that consequence or those consequences may be. Since you introduced a legal threat to the thread, you really should take responsibility for your stance and detail the legal risks involved here. Your credibility will be lowered if you do not address the topic.
I took the liberty of copying your last few posts in the event that you or moderators delete them in the event they can be useful for illustrative purposes at a later time.
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#6
Alicia de Larrocha's first recording, on Decca, from 1955, is the slowest overall take of her four studio recordings, but it never sounds slow or even slower. Indeed, the final RCA recording, though quicker in timing sounds and feels slower than this one. That is down to flexibility. By that I mean Laroccha effortlessly moves between faster and slower music with perfect transitions, plays with spicier rubato, and when she does play some of the slower music slower than in later versions, there's a musical tension that seems to dissipate with the decades. While one hears it in the opener, it becomes clearer in Coloquio en la reja, which despite sometimes sparse pedaling, just hangs there, as radiant musical perfume. The Fandango has fantastic energy and intensity and verve, while Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor has a fantastical air to it. El Amor y la Muerte has more of that enchanting, effortless back and forth between almost dreamy slowness and biting fieriness and passion, and a drawn out, exhausted coda. Here, the Epilogue has a loosey goosey, almost unstable feel, though it's obviously expertly delivered. The effect compels. Younger Larrocha could deliver.
Quote from: Mandryka on October 25, 2024, 08:01:47 PMReminds me of Afanassiev's Chopin mazurkas and nocturnes, and his Brahms intermezzi. Very good tone and cantabile. I like that sort of thing very much.
Spontaneous, slightly sunnier rendition. A super-imposed timing here and there. Timing becomes a part of the melodies. I find her arpeggios and fingering relatively fast (and mostly effective). There is a little roughness/rawness in the touch, I think. Possibly the microphone was close to the instrument.
I will check Afanassiev.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 26, 2024, 06:13:35 AMSpontaneous, slightly sunnier rendition. A super-imposed timing here and there. Timing becomes a part of the melodies. I find her arpeggios and fingering relatively fast (and mostly effective). There is a little roughness/rawness in the touch, I think. Possibly the microphone was close to the instrument.
I will check Afanassiev.
When she plays notes fast, possibly in apeggiation, that's where I have a slight problem - it has a showy offy cocktail bar pianist vibe IMO - that's what I hear in Los Requierbos in fact. Afanassiev would never be like that!
This only struck me when I listened on my best system, the ESLs. When I first posted about her, I'd heard the CD on less revealing speakers.
Nevertheless I like the whole thing in fact, I guess I like cocktail bars.
Does anyone know if Larrocha 1955 which
@Todd reviewed today has ever been released off LP? CD or streaming? I don't know if I've ever heard it.
Quote from: Mandryka on October 26, 2024, 06:40:27 AMDoes anyone know if Larrocha 1955 which @Todd reviewed today has ever been released off LP? CD or streaming? I don't know if I've ever heard it.
https://www.eloquenceclassics.com/releases-archive/alicia-de-larrocha-the-first-recordings/#:~:text=That%20dominance%20began%20with%20recordings,now%20reissued%20collectively%20on%20CD.
I will comment on this recording next week.
(https://www.eloquenceclassics.com/files/2017/05/4821546_Larrocha_TheFirstRecordings_master.jpg)
Quote from: Mandryka on October 26, 2024, 06:40:27 AMDoes anyone know if Larrocha 1955 which @Todd reviewed today has ever been released off LP? CD or streaming? I don't know if I've ever heard it.
It's in the Larrocha big box.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 26, 2024, 06:44:30 AMhttps://www.eloquenceclassics.com/releases-archive/alicia-de-larrocha-the-first-recordings/#:~:text=That%20dominance%20began%20with%20recordings,now%20reissued%20collectively%20on%20CD.
I will comment on this recording next week.
(https://www.eloquenceclassics.com/files/2017/05/4821546_Larrocha_TheFirstRecordings_master.jpg)
Thanks Brett.
Quote from: Todd on October 26, 2024, 06:45:42 AMIt's in the Larrocha big box.
Thanks Todd.
Quote from: Mandryka on September 30, 2024, 04:25:36 AMCiccolini is a cold dead fish marinated in French perfume.
Meow! 🐈
K
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 26, 2024, 06:44:30 AMhttps://www.eloquenceclassics.com/releases-archive/alicia-de-larrocha-the-first-recordings/#:~:text=That%20dominance%20began%20with%20recordings,now%20reissued%20collectively%20on%20CD.
I will comment on this recording next week.
(https://www.eloquenceclassics.com/files/2017/05/4821546_Larrocha_TheFirstRecordings_master.jpg)
Looking forward to reading your thoughts.
I don't know how many times she recorded his works. The ones that I have are later ones on RCA.
K
Quote from: Kalevala on October 26, 2024, 09:21:58 AMMeow! 🐈
K
@Mandryka I should have also asked "Shalimar or Chanel No. 5"? ;)
K
Quote from: Kalevala on October 26, 2024, 10:27:50 AMI don't know how many times she recorded his works.
She made four studio recordings. This was cited in the RCA recording summary.
Quote from: Kalevala on October 26, 2024, 10:35:55 AM@Mandryka I should have also asked "Shalimar or Chanel No. 5"? ;)
K
When I first started to learn French I came across the phrase Eau de Javel and thought it was an expensive perfume from Grasse or somewhere like that. Sounds lovely doesn't it . . . until you know what it is!
Quote from: Mandryka on October 26, 2024, 11:01:27 AMWhen I first started to learn French I came across the phrase Eau de Javel and thought it was an expensive perfume from Grasse or somewhere like that. Sounds lovely doesn't it . . . until you know what it is!
I wouldn't want to dab that on my neck, wrists, etc.! :o As an aside, I have a couple of Baccarat bottles back from the day. Love both perfumes.
K
Quote from: Todd on October 26, 2024, 10:55:57 AMShe made four studio recordings. This was cited in the RCA recording summary.
Thanks for the info. On your thread? If so, sorry, but I missed it. Ah, I found it. :)
K
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#5
I have been aware of José Menor's recording since it was issued, but I did not get around to it until now. That was an egregious error on my part. For, you see, Menor plays to the manner born, and one need only wait for about three seconds to figure that out. His overall timing is just a bit slower than normal, but this is a recording where tempo basically doesn't matter as it just melts into the background. His transitions between passages are impeccable, his rubato perfect, his dynamic shifts without flaw, and his rhythmic sense so very Spanish. He plays with oodles upon oodles of flexibility. What Menor achieves through his playing is programmatic music making that would work wonders in Liszt or Mussorgsky, and it fits each piece perfectly here. I mean, the passion in the window conversation; the exuberance of the Fandango; the languid yet intense complaint with the Nightingale singing to match Liszt's evocation of St Francis' birds or anything by Messiaen; the intense El Amor y la Muerte that has all the potency of a Wagnerian love-death in one-tenth the time: what's not to love here? Great stuff.
Quote from: Todd on October 27, 2024, 04:47:32 AM(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/512mSg2ypEL._UX358_FMwebp_QL85_.jpg)
#5
I have been aware of José Menor's recording since it was issued, but I did not get around to it until now. That was an egregious error on my part. For, you see, Menor plays to the manner born, and one need only wait for about three seconds to figure that out. His overall timing is just a bit slower than normal, but this is a recording where tempo basically doesn't matter as it just melts into the background. His transitions between passages are impeccable, his rubato perfect, his dynamic shifts without flaw, and his rhythmic sense so very Spanish. He plays with oodles upon oodles of flexibility. What Menor achieves through his playing is programmatic music making that would work wonders in Liszt or Mussorgsky, and it fits each piece perfectly here. I mean, the passion in the window conversation; the exuberance of the Fandango; the languid yet intense complaint with the Nightingale singing to match Liszt's evocation of St Francis' birds or anything by Messiaen; the intense El Amor y la Muerte that has all the potency of a Wagnerian love-death in one-tenth the time: what's not to love here? Great stuff.
Indeed, great stuff (and the fillers on the CD are also very interesting).
I bought
José Menor's recording last month, and found it very enjoyable (even more so after the disappointment of
Aldo Ciccolini's recording of
Goyescas —which unsurprisingly didn't do very well in this scientific ranking ;) ).
Quote from: ritter on October 27, 2024, 07:13:07 AMI bought José Menor's recording last month, and found it very enjoyable (even more so after the disappointment of Aldo Ciccolini's recording of Goyescas —which unsurprisingly didn't do very well in this scientific ranking ;) ).
After listening, I immediately and necessarily scrambled to see what other recordings Menor has made, and there are few, and nothing else by famous composers. The Joan Guinjoan recordings may just end up in my listening queue at some point. Several pianists in the top ten have made few recordings. Who knows what that means?
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#4
Alicia de Larrocha's second recording for Hispavox is her fastest take, and it's in early-ish, not so great (ie, poor) stereo sound. Everything else about it is unambiguously great. It retains the fluidity of the mono Decca recording, and it infuses additional energy and an even freer sound to rhythm and rubato. Though the recorded sound sounds harsh in loud passages, one gets a good sense of Larrocha's range in Coloquio en la reja, which both whispers and roars, and undulates between volume extremes and tempo extremes with silly ease. The Fandango bursts with energy and Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sometimes just plain shimmers. El Amor y la Muerte is like Shakesperean tragedy spread across the ivory, and the Epilogue pops. There's no denying the greatness of this recording, and all one has to do is accept the Spanish Piano Music curse, wherein some of the greatest recordings of Spanish keyboard music are in crap sound. There's this, most of the rest of Larrocha's Hispavox recordings, pretty much everything Esteban Sanchez recorded, and Frederick Marvin's Soler, to name some of the most prominent examples.
Quote from: Todd on October 28, 2024, 04:26:08 AM(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/a3863bc77e84bc7565f479a36f6050fe/3995728/alicia-de-larrocha-goyescas-el-pelele-escenas-romanticas-Cover-Art.jpg)
#4
Alicia de Larrocha's second recording for Hispavox is her fastest take, and it's in early-ish, not so great (ie, poor) stereo sound. Everything else about it is unambiguously great. It retains the fluidity of the mono Decca recording, and it infuses additional energy and an even freer sound to rhythm and rubato. Though the recorded sound sounds harsh in loud passages, one gets a good sense of Larrocha's range in Coloquio en la reja, which both whispers and roars, and undulates between volume extremes and tempo extremes with silly ease. The Fandango bursts with energy and Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor sometimes just plain shimmers. El Amor y la Muerte is like Shakesperean tragedy spread across the ivory, and the Epilogue pops. There's no denying the greatness of this recording, and all one has to do is accept the Spanish Piano Music curse, wherein some of the greatest recordings of Spanish keyboard music are in crap sound. There's this, most of the rest of Larrocha's Hispavox recordings, pretty much everything Esteban Sanchez recorded, and Frederick Marvin's Soler, to name some of the most prominent examples.
As you ladies and gents already know, this recording has been reissued from EMI.
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Quote from: Todd on October 26, 2024, 03:54:13 AM(https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/f1c8cd0ddbf97a0e9caa3ae83e6872f5/4379093/alicia-de-larrocha-goyescas-part-1-el-pelele-Cover-Art.jpg)
#6
Alicia de Larrocha's first recording, on Decca, from 1955, is the slowest overall take of her four studio recordings, but it never sounds slow or even slower. Indeed, the final RCA recording, though quicker in timing sounds and feels slower than this one. That is down to flexibility. By that I mean Laroccha effortlessly moves between faster and slower music with perfect transitions, plays with spicier rubato, and when she does play some of the slower music slower than in later versions, there's a musical tension that seems to dissipate with the decades. While one hears it in the opener, it becomes clearer in Coloquio en la reja, which despite sometimes sparse pedaling, just hangs there, as radiant musical perfume. The Fandango has fantastic energy and intensity and verve, while Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor has a fantastical air to it. El Amor y la Muerte has more of that enchanting, effortless back and forth between almost dreamy slowness and biting fieriness and passion, and a drawn out, exhausted coda. Here, the Epilogue has a loosey goosey, almost unstable feel, though it's obviously expertly delivered. The effect compels. Younger Larrocha could deliver.
This is a significant performance. This recording, along with her Hispavox in the early 60s (now issued from EMI) and Escandón, is my personal favorite. I guess Larrocha 2nd is technically a "better" (and more flamboyant) performance than this recording. But I slightly prefer this recording to the Hispavox gig because of the power, charisma, jubilation and spontaneity. I think her movement of motifs and melodies are often based on eighth note triplet or sixteenth note, implicitly or explicitly, and I imagine that's why the overall tempo is numerically slow. But her movement and music are not slow. The same thing applies to Escandon too. While the execution is sophisticated, this is the music in tabernas. The performance proffers the Spanish aesthetics. Larrocha 2nd is a little formal and (nicely) calculated, and it is a music in a national museum.
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#3
Javier Perianes is one of three pianists in this group to bring the work in at over an hour, and as such that means that there's ample slow playing. Mr Perianes brings the tonal beauty and variegation throughout. His take on Los requiebros comes in at 10'20", which is quite a bit longer than any other in this survey, and it more or less establishes the trajectory. There can be no doubt of Perianes' virtuosic bone fides, and when he needs to rev and up and crank up the volume, as in the coda, he does, but that's not what he's about. Pretty much everywhere, all the time, he's more concerned about eking out the subtlest of tonal shading and dynamic nuance. It's like a sonic smorgasbord in that respect. If anything, Coloquio en la reja offers even more of the same. Truth to tell, it is possible to detect a hint of predictability in his style. The same can be said of, say, Arcadi Volodos' Brahms and Schubert recordings, but predictable perfection is still perfection. See, now, slower sometimes means the rhythmic aspect of the playing gets short shrift, but not so with Perianes, and the Fandango brings that home. Sure, it's slower than average, but it flows just right, it has enough vigor, enough brio. And of course, Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor runs the risk of sounding too beautiful. What a terrible fate that would be, amiright? Those trills at the end, man, they make it seem like Perianes could directly rival Yamane in Op 111 if he so chose. One wants him to choose to do so! El Amor y la Muerte again mixes oodles 'o oomph where needed, and drawn out delicate playing expertly, imparting overt passion and introspection with the best of them. And the Epilogue mixes the fast and slow styles so well, that one just wants it to keep going. Great, great stuff.
Not all is without flaw here. Pedaling is audible in many places. There, there's the beef.
Sounds like we have just Jorge Luis Prats and Michel Block left, although I guess there could be a real surprise lurking. Excited to test drive Perianes and the real surprise, José Menor.
Quote from: Brian on October 29, 2024, 06:17:49 AMExcited to test drive Perianes and the real surprise, José Menor.
Menor and Battersby were two out of left field recordings in the top ten. I went in with no expectations with the former and low expectations with the latter and was wowed by both. A few pianists offered just a bit more wow.
Did you sample some of the other recordings that did not make the final bracket and conclude based on samples that they didn't have anything unusual/special going on? I guess what I'm asking is how you decided to include José Menor and not, I dunno, Joop Celis*...seems like sample clips could have been a help.
*chosen for his funny name
Quote from: Brian on October 29, 2024, 06:35:33 AMDid you sample some of the other recordings that did not make the final bracket and conclude based on samples that they didn't have anything unusual/special going on? I guess what I'm asking is how you decided to include José Menor and not, I dunno, Joop Celis*...seems like sample clips could have been a help.
*chosen for his funny name
I combined the rigorous science of numerology, which resulted in the optimal number of thirty-six recordings, and strict sociolinguistic analysis which precluded including Joop among others, with streaming availability to determine which lesser-known recordings to include. I find sampling a wholly unsatisfactory approach for recording inclusion determination since I invariably sample entire recordings, which would obviate the numerological mandate. Or, I just cobbled together three dozen recordings and got on with it. I can't remember which.
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#2
Cuban pianist Jorge Luis Prats goes one better than Luis Fernando Pérez's adding in a movement by dropping the Epilogue altogether, moving El Amor y la Muerte to the end, and inserting El pelele as the fifth movement. His justification for this jiggery-pokery is that the overall arc of the piece is about lovers who die, meaning an epilogue is meaningless. One may find such explanations hokey, or whatever, but with playing like Prats', no justification is really needed.
The opening note is a big, fat, bold blast at the audience in this live performance. Then it's sort of off to the races, and Prats plays quickly throughout. While he doesn't display the ultimate in tempo fluctuations, he certainly does fluctuate and does so fluidly. Despite the heft and the speed, there's a sense of ease, as he just sort of free wheels the whole thing. There's also a sense of romantic abandon. This is true of-the-moment playing. Individual details highlighted in some recordings get replaced by the sweep of the playing. This is an anti-detail recording. To be sure, Prats is not sloppy or unnuanced, but everything feeds the larger goal of delivering an opera for the piano. The Fandango finds Prats belting out the music, with the left hand prancing up and down the keyboard in electric style. Finally, in Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor, he backs off a bit, softens up some, and oozes romanticism from every (presumably) sweat-drenched pore. The inclusion of El Pelele, with its unabashed energy and upbeat sound does sound incongruous from a musical purist standpoint. Purity is just plain boring though, and it ends up offering maximum contrast to the maximum heavyweight drama of El Amor y la Muerte. Opening with bass notes that sound organ-like, the relative speed of the take imparts more passion and fervor to the music, with romantic intensity to rival zippy takes of the most passionate music from Tristan, that apogee of love-death music. Prats's vision of the music is clear and fully satisfying. A humdinger, this. (And it sounds like one poor string on the piano could take no more.)
Ever since I first heard this blockbuster recital disc, it has been a favorite, and it's a shame that Prats doesn't really seem to care much about making recordings. I've heard his Rach and DSCH concertos, and they are very fine. I hope that Eloquence one day reissues his DG debut recording with LvB Op 101, the Schumann Toccata, and Gaspard. To quote Gob: Come on!
The Prats debut recording (and his Rachmaninov) are available on Qobuz.
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El Número Uno
Magic man Michel Block prestidigtates his way right up to the top of the list. This was not unexpected. In many things he recorded, Block delivered either the best or one of the best versions, at least up until his late Guild recordings, where he started playing some music extraordinarily slowly. Even those recordings are something special.
Like Prats, Block's recording is taken from a live performance. Also like Prats, there's a sense of freedom in the playing. But there's also straight up magic. Los requiebros, slower than average, sort of suspends time, which is a Block specialty. One loses all sense of time. Hell, space, too. Individual notes take on near cosmic significance, until they disappear into the ether. He plays speedily, too. True, he's not as rock solid as Prats, let alone pristine studio takes, but this is a recreative experience. As is Coloquio en la reja, which starts off like a languid, plush dream. Block's overall timing is slightly swifter than normal, and he speeds up in faster passages, and he fudges a couple things, but the whole thing just washes over the listener. This is how romantic piano playing is supposed to go. The Fandango is one of the slower takes, and it sounds impossibly slow to open, yet Block holds it together. As he speeds up, some of the playing takes on a nearly aggressive mien, but it all blends perfectly. Then sheer artistic perfection comes in Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor, where Block plays in a hushed, delicate, gentle, and sweet manner. Unsweet is the thundering opening of El Amor y la Muerte, which is like a death throe, that gives way to exhausted whimpering, before another throe erupts. Block is fairly quick in this movement, and while some passages sound zippy (and rough), it doesn't feel that way. He distends the coda, dragging it out, rendering the most pathetic of love-deaths. Mmmm, hmmm. Block finishes off by playing the Epilogue in almost reckless fashion, going nutso fast in some passages, and playing with disturbed rhythm in places, and the piano sounds a bit the worse for wear here and there. But the effect is quite something. It's a giant musical treat, so appropriate on this day of all days.
This is it, this is the thing, it's real, it's of-the-moment, and this performance was fleeting and then just gone forever. Lucky were the attendees, and lucky are listeners that microphones captured this event. I saved this recording for last, with Prats and Perianes the two immediately preceding it, precisely because these three versions stand out in memory more than the others covered herein, with the great Mr Block the one I subconsciously think of when I think of this work. This reminded me why.
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Quote from: Mandryka on October 26, 2024, 06:31:59 AMWhen she plays notes fast, possibly in apeggiation, that's where I have a slight problem - it has a showy offy cocktail bar pianist vibe IMO - that's what I hear in Los Requierbos in fact. Afanassiev would never be like that!
This only struck me when I listened on my best system, the ESLs. When I first posted about her, I'd heard the CD on less revealing speakers.
Nevertheless I like the whole thing in fact, I guess I like cocktail bars.
Apparently she plays at venues other than cocktail bars.