ALBÉNIZ; GRANADOS Piano Concertos
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados (y Campiña)
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 06/2015
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 76
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA67918

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concierto fantástico |
Isaac Albéniz, Composer
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Isaac Albéniz, Composer Martyn Brabbins, Conductor Melani Mestre, Piano |
Rapsodia española |
Isaac Albéniz, Composer
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Isaac Albéniz, Composer Martyn Brabbins, Conductor Melani Mestre, Piano |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, 'Patético' |
Enrique Granados (y Campiña), Composer
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Enrique Granados (y Campiña), Composer Martyn Brabbins, Conductor Melani Mestre, Piano |
Author: Bryce Morrison
Very much for those who like music that makes few demands, it was elegantly described on its first London performance as ‘pleasing though not lofty in design’. Certainly the second movement’s breezy seaside tune will set heads nodding and feet tapping, and it is remarkable that the authentically Spanish Rapsodia española was completed at the same time as the Concerto. Sultry and Moorish before bursting out into all the fun of the feria, the Rapsodia is hard to resist and will appeal to those in love with all things southern and Spanish.
Yet the chief interest lies in the Granados, solemn and declamatory in the first movement before leaving its C minor sense of elegy to recall two earlier Spanish Dances and the composer’s one unabashed showpiece, the Allegro de concierto. Musical adventure could hardly go further. Impeccably recorded, all the performances by Melani Mestre and the BBC Scottish Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins are of an unfaltering fluency and stylistic command.
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