The Concierto para una fiesta was commissioned by a wealthy Texan, as a ‘coming-out-party’ present for his daughters, admirers of Pepe Romero. He and the composer were reported at the time to be chuckling at the thought of listening (in Heaven) to others struggling to play it. Time passes, however, and there are now several good recordings of the work by others of whom Ricardo Gallén is now one. Technical skills have been steadily on a rising curve for decades and, whether or not the curve is asymptotic, its highest point has yet to be attained indefinitely by one single guitarist. Around every corner there may be an equally fast or even faster ‘gun’. As to the work itself, it is not the most riveting of Rodrigo’s concertos for solo guitar but it is notable for its slow movement, a clear souvenir of that of the Concierto de Aranjuez, and Gallén’s performance certainly does it justice.

The Concierto madrigal is, like the Fantasía para un gentilhombre, a tribute to times past though, since the first movement briefly tugs a forelock to Monteverdi and the madrigal O felici occhi miei plays a key role, it is not an exclusively Spanish one. I have always found it a fascinating work, with 10 movements full of diversity of every kind and maybe the one of the ‘family’ I would choose to take to that distant desert island. As with the Concierto para una fiesta, this is a recording that can hold its own with any of the others – finely played with good sound on the part of all concerned, excellently balanced and faithfully recorded.

At the heart of Volume 6 are two of Rodrigo’s finest orchestral works – Per la flor del lliri blau (1934) and A la busca del más allá (1976). The former is a symphonic poem based on a Valencian legend in which the three sons of a dying king go in search of a blue lily whose magic powers can save their father. The outcome is successful but tragic, as clearly depicted as that of the eponym of Elgar’s Falstaff.

A la busca del más allá was commissioned by the Houston Symphony for the bicentennial celebrations in the US. Their choice of composer may seem curious but it proved a wise one. Its title (‘In search of what lies beyond’) reflected Houston’s status as the centre of space exploration. How would Rodrigo, who had until then devoted his attention to all things Spanish and was then 75, deal with such an unfamiliar demand? The answer was that he did so with great skill and imagination, leaving little or no trace of Spanishry. The curtain rises and falls with a long roll on an undamped cymbal, and the principal motif of what separates these events contains a ‘questioning’ tritone. These two works are coupled also on one disc in the four-CD set conducted by Bátiz, in which the sound is a fraction more bright and sharp-edged, but there is no important difference between the two in terms of the musical product itself.

There are alternative recordings of Palillos y Panderetas and the Viejos aires de danza, but none of Dos danzas españolas, in which the unusual featured soloist is an exponent of the castanets. The performances of all these ‘fillers’ are exemplary but it is the two large works that make this recording indispensable to Rodrigo lovers, who are being well served by this series in all but the accuracy of the annotation.