Extremely low marks here for presentation: skimpy and inadequate summaries (some written with no sense of punctuation) instead of either texts or translations, mistakes in names and titles, an error over the dedication of the Montsalvatge songs, no mention that the Granados songs were orchestrated by Ferrer or that the Turina is performed in mutilated form (omitting the introduction, interlude and epilogue which unify thematic elements in the cycle), and calling the. Espla ''Andalusian folk-songs'' when they are in fact from Alicante, which isn't in Andalusia at all. This lack of care unfortunately spills over into the disc itself—which is available only on CD and cassette.
Yannula Pappas, a Greek who first made her name in Romania and then in the USA before working throughout Europe, has a voice of great beauty, considerable sense of character (Montsalvatge's Punto de Habanera is splendidly coquettish and its Canto negro boisterous, the Granados Llorad, corazon pathetic) and a sureness of technique that takes her up to the heights in Turina's La Giralda (though not in the Granados Iban al pinar) without strain, and her well-chosen programme fills some surprising gaps in the current catalogue. But she should not have been allowed to sing several wrong notes in the Montsalvatge songs—such as one at the end of her very first phrase, an E natural instead of E flat in the final turn of Chevere and a B flat instead of C flat (twice) in the much-loved cradle song for a black baby—nor, in various places, to make slips in words (''quieda'' for ''queda'', ''lucieros'' for ''luceros'', etc.), frequently to insert an indeterminate vowel after an 'n', or to skate over the all-important first words of Semana Santa. Intrinsically attractive as are the songs Espla songs, comparison with the old de los Angeles recording (EMI ASD505, 12/62—nla) leaves the present performances standing—and not only because the Israel Symphony Orchestra are obviously not in the major league (the oboe solos in Espla's Rutas and Las 12 take some believing) and their fortes sound raucous. A pity: with more care generally this could have been a recommendable issue.'