Albéniz’s distinctive musical vocabulary, with its sensual harmonies, rich melodic lines and characteristic rhythmic figures, has ensured lasting popularity, not least in his music for the piano. This album of four-hand piano music reveals the composer’s love of Spain’s regional music traditions, whether in the glittering sweep of the Suite española No. 1or in the Rapsodia Española where a hypnotic dreamscape meets dramatic outbursts. Two movements from Iberia – one of which is a rarely encountered arrangement by the great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha – reveal a daring modernity that aligns Albéniz with Debussy and Ravel.

Isaac Albeniz is best known for his influential piano works and a style that draws on Spanish folk music idioms. But his remarkable catalogue of songs successfully combines tradition and modernity, adapting a myriad of compositional techniques to create a uniquely personal and innovative style. These evocative and at times introspective songs look forward to the composer’s masterpiece Iberia. Renowned mezzo-soprano Magdalena Llamas has been admired for her ‘expression and sensuality’ by The New York Times.

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REVIEW:

Magdalena Llamas gives a very projective reading of these songs. She is rather in her own way as individual as the composer, and we do find the music filtered by her artistry to a significant extent. Nevertheless you hear everything with the emphasis that the composer no doubt intended. One no doubt will find much to like in Maestro Gonzalez’s piano accompaniment. It and the piano writing itself are high points to my mind of this set.

Recommended for anyone interested in the Modern period of Spanish musical art. and too for those who would like a bit of musical adventure!

– Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review