Granados: Goyescas; Albeniz: Iberia / Artur Pizarro

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ALBÉNIZ Iberia. GRANADOS Goyescas • Arthur Pizarro (pn) • LINN CKD 355 (2 CDs: 146:25)


Goyescas and Iberia are generally considered, and not without some justice, to be the two pinnacles of Spanish piano music. Messiaen, who was obviously influenced by it, once wondered if Iberia might not be the greatest piece of piano music ever written. Seriously. It is divided into four parts, each consisting of three pieces that attempt to evoke Spanish scenes and landscapes, mostly in Andalusia and vicinity, often by using characteristic dances and rhythms. It presents the would-be performer with a cascade of finger-twisting difficulties and a barrage of notes that sometimes require three staves (this is also true, to a lesser extent, of Goyescas ). Albéniz once considered destroying it because he suspected that it was unplayable and Blanche Selva, the pianist who eventually gave the first performances of all four books, initially agreed with him.


I have not heard any of the several previous recordings that Artur Pizarro has made for Linn Records but, judging from his recordings of these Spanish favorites, I would guess that he’s someone who marches to his own drummer. In his interesting annotations, Pizarro says that the composer himself could not play all of the 12 pieces that make up Iberia . Pizarro obviously can but he sometimes tries to make his points with tonal shading and restraint, eschewing flashiness. This is a dangerous strategy in Iberia , which is surely one of the most extroverted collections of piano music going. Many of the pieces invite virtuosic brilliance and, if recordings are typical, usually get it. I think that the music benefits from a more aggressive approach than that taken by Pizarro in, at least some of the pieces. I am not claiming that this is a dull performance—it is not and it does not lack vitality and color. Speaking of tonal color, he uses a Blüther piano because he believes it has a sound that Albéniz and Granados would have recognized—in his words, “a piano with the sound of the beginning of the century with the build quality and strength of a new piano and a very, very fast action.” This is no problem at all and what emerges from the Blüther bears no resemblance to the tinny sound of a fortepiano.


My own favorite among Iberia s remains that of Nicholas Unwin on Chandos, which I would place in a virtual tie with those of Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion) and Alicia de Larrocha (Decca). These are all more conventionally “brilliant” performances and tend to be faster than Pizarro’s. Unwin’s has two advantages over theirs: (1) it’s on one CD and (2) it’s still available. Larrocha’s EMI recording (originally Hispavox), a wonderfully vital, animated performance, suffers from what seems to be sympathetic vibration that imparts an unpleasant ring to many loud notes. It has also been reissued on the “Great Performances of the Century” series but I doubt that the problem has been cleared up; by my recollection, it also existed on the Epic LP. There are also perfectly good recordings by Martin Jones (Nimbus) and Guillermo González (Naxos). I have not heard Aldo Ciccolini’s recording in many years. My (possibly unfair) recollection was that some of his “interpretive” touches were dictated by the difficulty of the pieces. On the other hand, in 1947 Claudio Arrau recorded Books 1 and 2, only, with such technical facility and power that he actually made the pieces sound easy. Grab that one if it ever turns up. Too bad Arrau didn’t record it all, but he apparently had little interest in Spanish music. Jorge Bolet would probably have made a knockout recording but he only recorded one Spanish music collection, for the Boston Records label (I wonder who owns the rights). José Iturbi was interested in Spanish music and played it with flair but he only recorded a few pieces by Albéniz and Granados for EMI, none of them from Iberia or Goyescas . It is possible that he recorded some for his own label but I’ve never seen any of those recordings. His sister, Amparo, made a fine LP recording of Goyescas for RCA Victor but I’ll bet that never shows up on CD.


Speaking of Amparo Iturbi, when she was a child, she played Goyescas for Granados and was told that he wished performers would use El pelele , which is not part of the set, as a prelude to Goyescas . In fact, when he wrote the opera that is based on the piano suite, he actually did use El pelele as the prelude. The only recordings I know of that follow this procedure are those of Iturbi and Ralph Votapek, the latter of which, fortunately, compares with any that I’ve heard and, happily, is still available. Like the six pieces that make up the body of Goyescas, El pelele is inspired by a painting by Goya. The only piece he did not use when he wrote the opera is the final one, The Specter’s Serenade.


In his annotations, Pizarro says that Alicia de Larrocha once admonished him not to imitate her. That some young pianist who was taking on Spanish repertoire might be inclined to do so would be understandable, given her authority and proficiency. It appears that she need not have been concerned; his take on Goyescas is not only different from hers, it’s actually different from the other nine recordings I auditioned. In four of the pieces, Flattery, Conversation at the Window, The Maiden and the Nightingale, and Love and Death (I assume that the English titles will mean more to most Fanfare readers), his is the slowest tempo, sometimes significantly so, but he brings it off. There is a kind of yielding elegance to his playing that strikes me, at least, as appropriate for the music. On the other hand, Granados’s recording of the first four pieces is much faster but he probably never played it the same way twice in a row and his Welte-Mignon piano rolls seem improvisatory. He takes the pieces at quite a fast tempo and certainly demonstrates that reports of his prodigious technique were not greatly exaggerated. He also, for some reason, makes a cut in Flattery . In any event, Pizarro joins the ranks of those who have done recorded justice to Goyescas, which, to my taste, include Votapek (my first choice), Alicia de Larrocha (any of the four I’ve heard), Cristina Ortiz, Eduardo del Pueyo, Benita Meshulam, Douglas Riva, Martin Jones, and Amparo Iturbi. When (what I assume to be) Larrocha’s earliest recording of Goyescas was issued in the U.S., on American Decca, it was, for some reason, divided between two LPs, with the last two pieces on the second LP along with some piano music of Mompou. When MCA issued it on CD, they only included the first four pieces, as if they were unaware of the other LP, a really dumb error. Tape damage would have been no excuse since I wasn’t the only person in the country to own the second LP. Fortunately, her subsequent recordings for Hispavox/EMI, Decca/London, and RCA Victor more than filled that gap.


FANFARE: James Miller


Product Description:

  • Release Date: April 01, 2010


  • Catalog Number: CKD355


  • UPC: 691062035521


  • Label: Linn Records


  • Number of Discs: 2


  • Composer: Enrique Granados, Isaac Albeniz


  • Performer: Artur Pizarro