Granados’s Goyescas has a recorded history that’s both distinguished and varied, from the composer’s effervescent 1912 disc of an ‘improvisation’ on the cycle’s appendix ‘El pelele’ (VAI), through Alicia de Larrocha’s exquisitely detailed accounts of the full suite (Decca, RCA), to Javier Perianes’s strikingly languorous reading (Harmonia Mundi). Now Peter Donohoe joins the list with an album including the first four pieces.

The repertoire is new to Donohoe’s discography, but the interpretative stance is not. As expected, these are forthright performances: technically sturdy, emotionally heartfelt without sentimentality (listen to how he controls the poignancy of Granados’s ‘Quejas, ó La maja y el ruiseñor’), and tonally attractive both in their fuller moments and in their quieter sections, where he can whisper without bleaching out his sound. Much the same outlook marks Donohoe’s first recorded foray into Albéniz’s Iberia. True, ‘Fête-Dieu à Séville’ strains his fingers (as it does the fingers of so many pianists) – but there’s plenty of passion and a fair amount of fragrance (check out the evocative ending of ‘Almería’).

Whether you find the performances refreshingly uneccentric or slightly lacking in spice will depend on your taste. To my ears, Donohoe’s preference for blunt articulation occasionally blurs rhythmic gestures; this can make the music sound thick, especially when it’s coupled with his tendency to blend the main material into the accompaniments (certainly, the superimposed lines in Granados’s ‘El fandango de candil’ could be more clearly differentiated in colour and articulation). By the clock, Perianes’s performances are slower – but most of the time he sounds expansive, whereas Donohoe often sounds earthbound. Still, the new recording’s local beauties make it worth the attention of anyone who loves this music.

This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2024 issue of International Piano. Never miss an issue – subscribe today