Customer Reviews

Albéniz: Iberia; Granados: Goyescas

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It's kind of weird, my being an 18 year old, to say a classical piano cd is my favorite. But, I'm a classical pianist, and a huge fan of Albeniz (and spanish music in general) and this is the best performance of these two incredible works you will find. Alicia de Larrocha makes this seem easy, never repetitive, and her technique is amazing without losing any of the expressiveness needed to play this music. Wow.

There are, of course, many reasons why Spanish piano music is so little known or heard in our country. One reason is that the music is beyond the technical and emotional grasp of young students; the music is not like what we were all trained to play, i.e., German, French, etc. Another reason, in my opinion, is that the music is so demanding that the professional will opt for Chopin, Beethoven, or Debussy. Another is that the Spanish music demands extraordinary focus; Alicia has spent most of her life with this focus. Who in the rising tide of pianists will succeed her?

The entire "Goyescas" is a musical and pianistic masterpiece. I would describe the first four pieces in order as stunning, profoundly beautiful, thrilling, and emotionally ecstatic. I can promise you a wonderful listening experience.

In the "Iberia" we find a composer whose music reflects his Moorish feelings. Here we have flights of pure fantasy, gorgeous dissonances, beautiful melodies, and at times, just fun. Albéniz must have been born inside a piano with a quitar in each hand. I like the Evocation and the Jerez. The whole work reflects incredible energy and creativity in a man of supurb pianistic competance.

Every piano player should own and cherish this CD not only to enjoy piano music which they can never play, but also to understand how high and wide the human mind can go.

One can only wonder why Alicia doesn't record Scarlatti. Here's a man who started in Italy, stayed in Portugal, and settled in Spain; he used Spanish music in his Sonatas. Spanish music. What about it, Alicia? Anybody can play "European" music; you can play the music of Spain!

The title for my review may sound hyperbolic, but of my entire collection, this is the one. I purchased this CD knowing Alicia de Larrocha's playing from two concerts I had seen, one at the tender age of six and another in my teenage years, at which point I was fascinated with the music of Joaquin Turina. A bit of research on the Albeniz work she performed at that later concert, "La Vega," led me to the name of Iberia. The pairing of Iberia and Goyescas certainly represents one of the most ambitious 2-cd collections of piano music I know, and Ms. de Larrocha not only manages the enormous technical challenges of Albeniz's greatest work, parts of which he himself nearly destroyed as unplayable (Lavapiés, CD1, track 9, according to a biography.) Her interpretation sparkles from the first muted bars of "Evocación" to the last triumphant chords of "Eritaña", as she shows us the rich colors of this music without ever seeming to get bogged down in a mire of notes. I am not sure which deserves greater admiration - Albeniz's compositional genius or de Larrocha's interpretative flair, so I will say that they are inextricable parts of a glorious whole. Admittedly, on first listen, I thought "What's the big deal with Iberia?" Four or five years later, it is still an album I pull out to listen to - in its entirety. Save 85 minutes sometime to listen to all of Alicia's Iberia, but be warned that this can be a pleasantly addictive habit. For the curious, Albeniz's suite was organized into four books of three pieces each - the first two books were written for Blanche Selva and the last two for the more technically gifted Catalan pianist Joaquin Malats. The recording engineers should have left more time to marvel at the achievement of "Eritaña," Debussy's favorite in the collection - Albeniz felt compelled to draw lines between the staves in the score merely to allow the pianist to follow his melodic line through this piece, but as a listener, just sit back and marvel at what one of the greatest living pianists brings to this work.

Regarding "Goyescas," I can't say I know as much, but its lush, rich texture and its careful building upon themes sprinkled throughout the work (unlike separate movements of Iberia) make for a beautiful complement to Iberia. Granados, born seven years after Albeniz and one of his closest friends, wrote one of the most important piano pieces of the twentieth century in "Quejas, o la maja y el ruiseñor" (Laments, or Beauty and the Nightingale), the high point of the Goyescas collection for me. The third piece in Goyescas is a delight as well, and the power and beauty that de Larrocha brings to this entire work is tremendous.

To summarize: Run, don't walk, to buy this CD, one of the greatest in the annals of recorded classical piano.

The music of Albeniz and Granados is so good that one wonders why many pianists seem to regard it as mere salon music. I suppose that it has too much color, rhythmn and sheer gorgeousness to be considered truly serious. These composers had the good fortune to be the inheritors of a popular musical tradition that goes back a thousand years and encompasses Byzantines, Moors and Gypsies, among others. Alicia De Laroccha's only rival in this repertoire was Esteban Sanchez. Her playing is nearly perfect. Long may she flourish.

Alicia is a wonderful pianist, and I enjoy her renditions of Granados. Her performance of the Goyescas on this CD is world-class. However, I wanted to make you aware of a little-known Franco-American pianist, Marylene Dosse, who has won awards for her complete recordings of Granados's music. It's a little hard to find, a four-CD set. Her playing of the Goyescas is truly magical--well beyond even what Alicia is capable of. Dosse is the grandmaster of Granados and all Spanish classical piano music! What separates her is her absolute clarity and control of tone, and her ability to maintain a driving rhythm regardless of the complexity. Other pianists playing the same passages (including Alicia in certain passages of the Goyescas), will slow down, losing some of the song's vitality. Another distinction: some pianists impress by their virtuosity: Marylene Dosse by her expression. You will be deeply touched, listening to her Goyescas!

Published in 1906-1909 this is the undeniable composer's masterpiece Iberia exhibits in various degrees all the characteristics of Albeniz's art. The music itself has multiple hues, due its implicit expressive richness, density and kaleidoscopic tunes. Its twelve pieces -distributed in four volumes- are all based on Spanish scenes and landscapes.

Evocación is one the most beloved pieces of the first volume and nobody has been able to reach the Spanish ardor as William Kapell did it. Corpus en Sevilla accuses Liszt's Hungarian rhapsodies influence.

In the second volume are worth to mention both works: Ondeña and Almería are written in free variation form. The third volume is the most perplexing of the set.

Finally the last volume keeps for you the most mature of the set : Jerez, Eritaña and Málaga conform among others a true compilation of the cream of the cream Spanish music ever written.

In Granados ' Goyescas we perceieve La Rocha in very good shape, with a convincing digitation, involvement and sublime rapture requested By Granados.

These are at least the third recorded versions of these pieces (and De Larrocha recorded both cycles one more time).

I can't add anything to the superlatives which have already been said about these recordings, which have to be some of the greatest piano playing ever captured on disc.

Unfortunately, neither offers ideal sound. This 1973 version of Iberia is in serious need of some remastering, b/c the dull acoustic detracts from the playing. The Goyescas is much better, but still in loud passages, the piano tone has an unpleasant edge to it (though it's still far superior in sound - and as a performance as well - to her RCA remake). It sounds like the microphones were placed a bit too close to the instrument.

There's no acoustic "glow" to the sound, especially in Iberia, that becomes a real distraction.

Unfortunately, the EMI versions (probably the best overall of all her recorded accounts of both cycles), is even worse.

A pity, b/c the technology certainly existed even as far back as 1973 (and even in the mid 1960's) to record the piano in proper piano sound.

But until Decca sees fit to remaster these recordings, rather than keep re-issuing them with the inferior sound, this is what we'll have to live with...

Few who had the opportunity of hearing Alicia De Larrocha perform on stage will ever forget the entrance of this tiny little elegant lady walk onto the stage, approach the piano, sit, and then become part of the piano itself as she drew the most uncanny performances of Beethoven, Schumann, Mozart and Rachmaninov completely integrated with the orchestra. But even more moving were her recitals when she brought the music of her countrymen Albéniz and Granados and de Falla to life. With her death we have lost perhaps the finest interpreter of the complex yet richly emotional and beautifully composed 'Goyescas'.

This recording is now a collectors' item: while it does not contain the entire set of 'Goyescas' it offers enough of the special flavor and musicality de Larrocha brought to this music. There are many other recordings of this collection of pieces made at various times during her lengthy career, but this CD offers the advantage of hearing not only the well known 'Iberia Suite' for piano by Albéniz, but also that composer's rarely heard 'Navarra'. The recorded sound is excellent and the generous selection of all three works on 2 CDs makes this a 'must have' for all lovers of piano music - and, for all those who will never forget the artistry and dedicated life of Alicia de Larrocha. She will be missed but never forgotten. Grady Harp, September 09

...write a comment and include the link for me. I simply cannot imagine a better Iberia than de Laroccha gives us in this set.

I first heard excerpts from this collection on CBC Radio l, while at our summer chalet in Quebec. As an American, and used to loud, insensitive music, I found this album to be a quiet place where I wanted to return to again and again.