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4.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular playing, almost unbearable sound, January 17, 2011
This review is from: Piano Works (Audio CD)
This is in most ways a fabulous disc (with one major caveat), charting Falla's fascinating development when it comes to his take on Spanish folk music for the concert hall. The colorful Piezas espanolas could just as well have been written by Albeniz, though that point should not be taken to put their enjoyability, well-craftedness and memorability in question. The themes are strong and Falla makes much of them, even if they are stylistically rather conservative. Compared to the piano music of Granados and Albeniz, Falla's textures are sparer and less ornamented, though the music is as catchy and colorful as any of the music by said composers.
The ballet and opera transcriptions are more forward-looking of course; intensely Spanish yet drawing on Debussy (though discarding Debussy's haze and shadows); the music is sinewy and fiery, though it does undeniably loose something in a piano version despite Larrocha's excellent advocacy. The Fantasia bética is the major masterpiece here, however. Much more modern and primordial in sound (as if attempting to dig through the colors and flourishes of his culture to find its ferociously pulsating soul - though it reminds one of Bartók more in principle than in the actual result), this is a large-scale (9 minutes may not appear large, admittedly, but the "feel" of the work certainly is), dissonant and aggressive work, and utterly, spectacularly riveting.
Larrocha's performances are marvelous. Despite the electrifying fervor and energy the playing is actually very clean and beautiful, and almost unnervingly well-judged. The range of color and emotion is truly impressive, and the rhythms are both incisive and feral - utterly astounding performances, in other words. But here is the caveat (apart from the short playing time): the recording dates from 1958 and is early stereo, but it is almost unacceptably bad; clunky, loud and ugly, it almost threatens to undermine one's enjoyment at times. Still, I suppose this must be counted as a very recommendable release nonetheless.
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