Albéniz: Iberia; Suites espańolas

Isaac Albeniz (Composer), Guillermo González (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Guillermo González
• Composer: Isaac Albeniz
• Audio CD (March 9, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00000I7RS
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #139,258 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 1: Evocación

2. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 1: El Puerto

3. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 1: El Corpus en Sevilla

4. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 2: Rondeńa

5. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 2: Almería

6. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 2: Triana

7. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 3: El Albaicín

8. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 3: El Polo

9. Iberia Suite, for piano, B. 47: Book 3: Lavapiés

Disc: 2

1. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Granada (Serenata)

2. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Cataluńa (Corranda)

3. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Sevilla (Sevillanas)

4. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Cádiz (Canción)

5. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Asturias (Leyenda)

6. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Aragón (Fantasía)

7. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Castilla (Seguidillas)

8. Suite espańola No. 1, for piano, Op. 47, B. 7: Cuba (Capricho)

9. Suite espańola No. 2, for piano, B. 32: Zaragoza

10. Suite espańola No. 2, for piano, B. 32: Sevilla

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive..., February 1, 2002

By	Kenneth J. Luurs (Oak Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a wonderful performance. I probably have 15 recordings of Iberia. I'm not sure that I could say this is the "best" performance, but it may be. It is very sympathetic to the composer's intentions and has a wonderful lilt to it that has beguiled me. The pianist for this recording has done a lot of research into the work creating a new performing edition along the way, yet this is far from a "studied" performance. If you appreciate this work, you really "must" have this performance. The recording quality is very good, the piano tone excellent and the performance enlightening. If you don't know the work, you'll LOVE this work and performance. There's a lot of beauty and substance to Iberia, one of the great piano works of its era.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Decision 2000 is Resolved: The Piano Won the Guitar Wars, December 8, 2000

By	Karl Henning "Composer & Clarinetist" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is great piano music. Period. And it is unabashedly likeable, even by, er, laymen's standards. It is said that "Carmen" is the perfect opera to introduce to someone who is convinced he hates opera. If you know someone who thinks he hates classical pianism, this could be his "Carmen."

I would love this music just for the pianism, which is exactly where it should be, bordering on Liszt, Debussy and Spain; would love it just for the rightness of the music's Spanish character; would love it just for González' brilliant playing. I would love this music just for any one of these three, but they are all here, perfectly, brilliantly, joyously blended. The piano dances, it sings, it cries, compels, entrances. The piano convinces you it is as light and nimble as a guitar, but doesn't weary the ear after two hours and twenty minutes, where the ear might suffer after such an uninterrupted stretch of the six-stringed instrument.

This performance would have been well worth the ticket of a fully-priced two-disc set. But it prices much, much lower. In many respects, a miraculous outpouring of music.

There are a lot of guitar discs with the "Asturias (Leyenda)" in transcription. I have no quarrel with the guitar transcription; it is one (albeit minor) proof of how right the music is for Spain, for the quintessential flamenco instrument. And we were mesmerized watching (and listening to) Eliot Fisk play the "Asturias" at Borders one fine afternoon. But if you like the guitar transcription of the "Asturias" (and to hear it is to love it) try a compare/contrast with this performance, as the piece was originally composed.

You won't have to choose between them. There can be ample room in your heart for both.