2020 - a time when travel was not easily possible - gave rise to this unusual journey in the mind, traversing the country and leading us to a variety of places. The guitar is our guide. But it doesn't travel alone; it joins mandolin, double bass, and accordion, inviting us to make music together in duets. The music originates from Spain, often from the pen of the famous composer and pianist Enrique Granados, who lived from 1867 to 1916 and wrote for the piano. His compositions vividly capture the atmosphere of the country. In the arrangements with guitar and partner instruments, new chapters are opened, the sounds leading us to new places. The central work is the "Valses Poeticos," which illuminate a different scene in each of it's ten short movements. In this "Spanish Journey," the guitar is not only the guiding thread of the production - a specific instrument is the protagonist: a 1955 concert guitar from the workshop of the Guitar maker Ricardo Sanchis-Carpio from Valencia. The accompanying musicians-Jochen Ro� on mandolin, Florian Dohrmann on double bass, and Alexander Pankow on button accordion-are all longtime and cherished collaborators and fellow musicians. The electric guitar finds it's place alongside the accordion, keeping pace with it's volume and tonal range. The "Spanish Journey" is a free-flowing exploration that began in the mind and has now become audible, with impressions of Spain, hints of jazz and classical music, and subtle emotionality.

Enrique Granados was one of the leading figures of the late-19th-century Spanish nationalist and impressionist school of musicians. The much-loved Danzas espanolas is a collection of piano pieces that represents Granados's refined blend of Romantic lyricism and Spanish folk imagery. This charming and charismatic journey through Spain is presented here in a colourful transcription for two guitars. Fabio Rizza's 2024 arrangement of the evocative Capricho espanol completes the programme.

The emerging quartet Gaman Ensemble shows in this album the evolution and cross-influences of that strong Spanish presence in the French capital over the last century. It's four members (Jesus Reneses -soprano saxophone-, Carlos Zaragoza -alto saxophone-, Daniel Sanchez-Manjavacas -tenor saxophone- and Luis Maria Gonzalez -baritone saxophone-) have studied in Paris, allowing themselves to be nourished musically and intellectually by the cultural life of the city. So did the five composers who make up the disc: Joaquin Nin, Jesus Guridi, Enrique Granados, Eduard Toldr� and Felix Ibarrondo. Gaman Ensemble records for the first time their own versions for saxophone quartet of the pieces by Nin and Guridi, originals for piano or string quartet, as well as the arrangement of the dance by Granados and the work commissioned by themselves to Ibarrondo. From these five scores, the versatile and rigorous Gaman Ensemble aims to illustrate the fruitful and long-lived sound encounter between Spain and France without losing sight of the musical regionalisms that were forged in the final stages of Romanticism. Basque, Andalusian and Catalan popular references emerge more or less explicitly in the languages of the five composers. On the other hand, as well as showing it's commitment to contemporary creation through Ibarrondo's work, Gaman Ensemble wants to contribute to the revaluation of the production and legacy of composers not yet sufficiently recognised, such as Nin or Guridi. And all this, through the original and suggestive formation of the saxophone quartet, a mirror of contemporaneity.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Cantos de Espana

Enrique Granados was one of the great composer-pianists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A deeply nationalist musician, his works primarily mine the rich heritage of Catalan and Spanish folk music for their inspiration. Today, Granados is best remembered for his evocative solo piano works; however his output also includes a great deal of orchestral music and six operas. Many of his piano compositions, due to their rich Spanish flavor, have been transcribed for the classical guitar - including the work recorded here by the young French virtuoso Guillaume Coppola, the Danzas espanolas. In preparing for this recording, Coppola carefully studied original manuscripts and critical editions. In this powerful and insightful recording, his piano shimmers with the colors and the warmth of Spain.

Classical Music

This is not a historical recording. Yet mysteriously the music is performed in an interpretation which is historically authentic down to the last detail. The key to this mystery is: The original performer was present at the recent recording session, but not physically: The music is heard on a modern Steinway. Never has music stored in the Welte-Mignon system sounded so "right" or so good. Thanks to TACET's much-praised recording technique, and because the Welte-Mignon memory system and sound production mechanism have now been newly adjusted for the first time by the leading expert in the field - and are thus able to meet TACET's requirements. (Welte-Mignon was invented in 1904.) the Welte-Mignon mystery can now speak to US without distortion.

Classical Music

Classical Music

In his piano transcriptions of harpsichord sonatas principally by Scarlatti, Granados tackled the task of presenting virtually unknown works to a contemporary public.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Impressiones Españolas

María del Carmen was Enrique Granados' first great operatic success and the stage work he held in highest regard. It was received with great acclaim at its premiere in 1898, admired for its refined and brilliant orchestral writing and for its prfound lyricism. Using the folklore, language and sounds of Murcia in south-eastern Spain alongside the influence of Wagnerian thematic techniques, the opera is set in a rural village where a water shortage and a love triangle inflame the mutual hatred between the peasant farmer Pencho and his wealthy rival Javier.

Enrique Granados' music is full of an emotion and tenderness that rightly elevates him to the status of a national monument of the same rank as Isaac Albéniz or Francisco Goya, whom he adored. The Frenchwoman Myriam Barbaux-Cohen and the Spaniard Granados: Two souls who understand each other blindly meet here and harmonize even over the temporal separation of a century. Myriam Barbaux-Cohen began learning piano in the city of La Rochelle. Soon after she was awarded First Prizes in Chamber Music and Piano from the Conservatory of Genevilliers. She continued her studies with Muza Rubackyte in the Russian Conservatory Serge Rachmaninoff in Paris. Myriam performs regularly at official events at the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, and enjoys a busy career as a piano accompanist.

Granados, E.: Piano Music, Vol. 5 - Escenas Poeticas / Azul

Vocal Recital: Oelze, Christiane - DEBUSSY, C. / GRANADOS, E

Angel Stanislav Wang (b. 2003, California), winner of the 2022 Jaén Prize International Piano Competition, presents his debut recital featuring Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B minor, and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor accompanied by the Bretón String Quartet, plus excerpts from Granados's Goyescas and the competition imposed work Poema a un amor eterno by Laura Vega.