Customer Reviews

Granados: Piano Music Vol. 7 - Sentimental Waltzes; Love Letters; The Gondola; 6 Expressive Studies

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Perhaps the other reviewer should give these pieces another chance. Granted, they're not the equal of the 'Goyescas' or the 'Escenas romanticas' but de Larrocha thought enough of the 'Bocetos' to record them for RCA, and at least some of the waltzes deserve better than to be labeled as just "salon music." If de Larrocha's version of the 'Bocetos' is a bit more elegant, Riva's is just fine. A very nice release.

I was very enthusiastic about American pianist and musicologist Douglas Riva's first issue in this series; he played the immensely treasurable 'Goyescas' suite and did a smashing job of it, right up there among the best versions available. Riva is a resident in Spain and co-editor of a new edition of all of Granados's music in process there. His fellow editor is Alicia de Larrocha. Somehow, though, I missed the intervening issues and this CD is No. 7 in the series. From the sound of it (although I'm guessing here) Riva is getting close to the end of his endeavor to record all of Granados's piano music, because much of what is played here has never been published or recorded. And, sorry to say, none of it is particularly memorable. There are some early student works, some 'piezas fáciles' for piano students, some not very intesting études. Even the 'Cartas de amor,' which are occasionally played outside Spain, are not especially engaging. The most interesting piece here is the last one on the CD. It is 'La góndola--scena poética' and it was not written for the normal piano. Rather it was composed for an instrument - none of which survive - called the 'Piano-pedalier Cateura' (Cateura was the inventor) which had pedals that altered the timbre of the struck piano strings. Even on a regular piano it comes across as a languid and poetic evocation of the rocking of a gondola, although not in the expected barcarolle rhythm.

Riva is a fine pianist, and a dedicated scholar of Granados' music, but this issue is only for the Granados completist, I fear.

Scott Morrison