Cantos de Espana

Classical Music

SALUT D'AMOUR ANNE AKIKO MEYE

The Rodrigo concerto (double woodwind, 2 horns, 2 trumpets and strings) needs real virtuoso playing—it is one of those works which are harder than they sound—but is most skilfully written. The cheerful first movement, starting up with typical Iberian belatedness from apparently idle introductory strumming, may make the most immediate effect, but undoubtedly the finest part of the work is the introspective Adagio, which shows that in the right hands even such seemingly cliché-bound elements as melancholy cor anglais solos and quasi-flamenco fiorilure can still be moving. Williams's reading differs somewhat from Bream's (which I still think superb): he takes the first movement a thought slower and just misses Bream's élan, but gives the finale actually more bite: he plays the slow movement sensitively, less dramatically and more dreamily than Bream (and incidentally changes the notes of the final arpeggio). It is a throughly musical performance, a worthy rival to that by his distinguished fellow-countryman.

-- Gramophone [7/1966]
reviewing Concierto de Aranjuez on LP

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This is not a record for purists, but never before on disc have I heard a performance of the vividly atmospheric Falla ballet anything like so involving as this. Stokowski may indulge in some souping up of the texture in the haunting "Pantomime", but I confess that that is how I have always wanted to hear it, and the brisk songs and dances (not just the "Ritual Fire Dance") have a dramatic bite that conveys the freshness of excitement that must have attended the first appearance of a ballet which so patently extended from Russia to Spain the new and exotic medium developed by Diaghilev. Diaghilev himself certainly appreciated its potential quickly enough with the ensuing Three Cornered Hat.

Shirley Verrett makes a superb soloist, characteristically rich-toned most of the time but from time to time flinging at us impressive imitations of raucous flamenco chest-tone. The recording, larger than life, dates from the early sixties, but it is still impressive, rich and atmospheric.

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone
reviewing El Amor Brujo on LP

There’s always room for another terrific Falla collection, though there’s certainly no shortage of them. Indeed, The Three-Cornered Hat has already been very kind to Chandos: Tortelier’s Philharmonia version is excellent (coupled with Albeniz’s Iberia in the Arbos orchestration). This one is just as fine, maybe even better. Juanjo Mena certainly gets the BBC Philharmonic to wake up from its usual bland, business-as-usual attitude and deliver tangy, idiomatic results. Listen to his perfectly judged rhythmic accents in the Dance of the Miller’s Wife, or his riotously brilliant final Jota. These zesty and energetic sections are more than offset by the poetic stillness of Raquel Lojendio’s lovely offstage soprano solo in Part Two. It’s just an excellent performance, about as good as it gets.

This is just as true of the other works on the disc. Homenajes receives a nicely contrasted interpretation that gives the piece a wider expressive range than usual–the tribute to Debussy is particularly atmospheric. Nights in the Gardens of Spain is marvelous. Bavouzet, as has become clear over the past couple of years, is a very major artist, and his performance has an especially noteworthy vitality and sparkle. So many performance of this work wallow in a sort of droopy, soggy “impressionism.” Certainly Mena and Bavouzet capture the music’s many moods, and they don’t stint on its mysterious, nocturnal tints, but they do it with a welcome rhythmic focus and firmness of outline. For a typical example, consider the vibrant Poco più animato at figure 5 in the first movement. This is great stuff, and the sonics are as bold and tactile as the interpretations.

– ClassicsToday.com

There have been a couple of recordings of El amor brujo in its original, two-act chamber version of 1915, but this one is as fine as any and just might be the best around. Conductor Angel Gil-Ordóñez chooses ideal tempos, the members of the Perspectives Ensemble play beautifully, and everyone seems genuinely involved in projecting Falla’s characterful instrumental parts with just the right combination of precision and warmth. Cantaora (singer) Esperanza Fernández sings with fervor and her voice, while raw and “popular,” at least remains in tune. She lacks the artistry and sensitivity of more professionally trained singers such as the incomparable Nati Mistrál on Decca, but in these surroundings it hardly matters.

The original version really is a different work: longer, with a slightly different plot that need not concern us, and despite using much of the same music often quite different in sound and texture. You can compare the two in the sound clips below. The revised version for full orchestra sounds more mysterious, more “impressionistic” if you will, while the original is leaner in outline but also definitely more rhythmically persistent and sinister. The only disadvantage to the original, in my opinion, is the generous amount of spoken dialog, which must be irritating even to native speakers when the music is so beautiful. You wish Fernández would offer less talk and more music.

Speaking of talk, Master Peter’s Puppet Show has a plot straight from Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and consists of wonderful musical bits connected by long stretches of recitative narration. The scoring is extremely imaginative, with the chamber ensemble featuring a harpsichord (played by Wanda Landowska at the premiere), and colorful parts for brass and percussion. What singing there is comes off quite well, with Jennifer Zetlan doing her best with the ungrateful part of the narrator. The plot, in case you don’t already know the original, is simplicity itself. At a roadside inn Master Peter puts on a puppet show set in the time of Charlemagne about the rescue of a damsel in distress. Don Quixote becomes thoroughly confused and takes the whole thing rather too seriously. Chaos ensues. That’s it.

Once again the performance is excellent from all concerned, and both pieces are very well recorded. Provided you have time to sit down and follow both not-terribly-long works booklet in hand, in this case thoughtfully containing texts and English translations, this release earns an easy and well-deserved recommendation.

– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

Includes work(s) for piano by Manuel de Falla. Soloist: Daniel Ligorio.

Classical Music

Falla: Vida Breve (La)

FALLA La vida breve • Lorin Maazel, cond; Cristina Gallardo-Domâs (Salud); Jorge de León (Paco); María Luisa Corbacho (Grandmother); Felipe Bou (Uncle Sarvaor); Sandra Ferrández (Flamenco Singer); Ode la Generalitat Valenciana • C MAJOR 710708 (DVD: 81:00) Live: Valencia Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia 4/17/2010

La vida breve is a gift to stage directors and design teams. Its deliberate ambiguities—where is the action taking place; is it all meant to be considered as occurring in reality; what do you do when so much of the music is orchestral only, even in sections that feature short vocal moments?—allow considerable leeway to interpretation, more so than in most operas. And stage directors typically enjoy having that kind of control over a production. In this 2010 production, everything is tied to the young Gypsy girl, Salud. The men working the forge and the girl selling baskets are never seen, but Salud hears them, walking around a nearly empty stage with a starkly towering, mottled red backdrop. It is in effect Salud’s head, and heart. It is only when the characters directly interact with her that we know we have moved back into something resembling a realistic frame.

Stage director and set designer Giancarlo del Monaco (and yes, in case you were wondering, it is Mario’s son) is consistently clever in integrating Salud everywhere in the opera. The interlude between acts is presented as a duet danced before Salud between two figures in wealthy wedding finery: Our heroine’s intuition, or fears, at work, as she believes Paco is being unfaithful. The chorus then enters while she watches, followed by Paco and his fiancée, all of it done slowly as in a dream; a fire blazes behind a life-sized cross, in front of which a woman stands, arms extended as though crucified. She moves away from the cross, turning into a singer who in folk tradition praises the soon-to-be married couple. All of this is ambiguous, and more is to follow. The singer has a gritty, guttural voice, unattractive but compelling: Perhaps to celebrate passion at its most dangerous and impersonal—or is her voice just being perceived this way by Salud, still viewing events as though in a vision?

With so much emphasis on Salud’s internal dialog, I suspect something more final than the written ending conclusion to La vida breve—willing herself to death as a supreme insult to her former lover who has publicly denied any affair—was felt necessary at the opera’s conclusion. In del Monaco’s staging she feigns severe hurt, and as Paco approaches, reaches out her hand to grasp his, forcing her concealed dagger into it. She then thrusts herself upon the weapon, and dies. This production foregoes props, aside from chairs. The costumes are period-effective without attracting undo attention, mainly underscoring the class and wealth differences that drive Paco away from Salud with white lace against black linen.

It would take a fine singer and actress to make this conception of La vida breve work, one who was expected to be on stage the entire time, moving and reacting when she wasn’t the center of attention. Cristina Gallardo-Domâs is fortunately up to the task. The Chilean soprano’s dark chest register and soaring, lyrical top encompass the vocal requirements, and she is a strong enough actor to remain expressively in character the rest of the time for this emotionally draining role. Jorge de León acts well, too, but his bright lyric tenor is tight with pressure, and he has a regular wobble when singing above piano. María Luisa Corbacho also shows a loosening of vibrato, but that’s not unexpected as the grandmother, while Felipe Bou brings firmness of tone to his small part. Lorin Maazel plays to the score’s color, rhythmic bite, and acute dissonances. His firm tempos and solid grasp of the drama are welcome.

The camerawork is first-rate, both varying distances, and holding shots for as long as they’re important. There are no DVD extras, unless you consider trailers for other operatic DVDs (including a very strange-looking Theodora) as useful content. Subtitles are in Spanish, English, French, and German, with PCM stereo and DTS 5.1 as the sound options. The video format is 16:9. The booklet contains good cut listings and some brief, useful history on the opera, but reproduces a short synopsis that doesn’t reflect the changes (such as the ending) in the current production. This would still be a viable recommendation had the production been less considered, and the performers less able. After all, where else are you going to turn? But as good as this is, I have no hesitation in recommending it heartily.

FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

As the central figure of Spanish music in the first half of the last century, de Falla (1876-1946) came to define the sound of Spain for listeners beyond its borders. Folk music, romanticism, neoclassicism, modernism: all the prevalent styles of his time were assimilated and absorbed within a personal idiom that advanced the work of notable predecessors such as Albeniz and Granados in establishing a distinctively Spanish idiom for art music, making him a worthy contemporary of other composers outside the central European mainstream from Vaughan Williams in England to Bartók in Hungary and Sibelius in Finland. Falla’s cycle of Seven Popular Spanish Songs is a perfect synthesis of artsong and folksong, performed here in Luciano Berio’s orchestration by Marta Senn and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela under the baton of Eduardo Mata, the Mexican conductor renowned for his dynamic interpretations of Hispanic repertoire. The songs return in their instrumental guise as the Suite populaire espagnole, with the cellist Timora Rosler accompanied by Klára Würtz. Rafael Puyana is a uniquely sympathetic soloist in the Harpsichord Concerto which gave the instrument new life beyond its Baroque associations. Benita Meshulam is widely recognized as the inheritor of Alicia de Larrocha’s mantle with her superbly atmospheric recordings of Spanish piano music.

REVIEW:

Manuel de Falla Collection is an honest title, since the five CDs present only a selection of his works, including well-known ones such as Nights in Spanish Gardens, El Amor Brujo, and The Three-Cornered Hat. The recordings with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra from 1981 convey particularly well the intensity of Spanish emotional worlds that Central Europeans like to assume. The round is opened with El Amor Brujo in a striking and lively performance. The interpretation of the Seven popular Spanish Songs, as well as Homenajas let the listener dive into Spanish worlds. The three dances from The Three-Cornered Hat in the version for orchestra will be joined by others in the piano version on a later CD.

For the recordings made in Venezuela, the conductor Eduardo Mata certainly holds the orchestra together and inspires it to effective performances. One could well imagine more sensitivity here, the nocturnal sultriness of the tango instead of the midday heat, so to speak, but there is little more to offer in the way of fire and color. More delicacy without sacrificing the technical quality of the recording is offered by the oldest recording.

In Nights in Spanish Gardens, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra performs under the judicious direction of Günther Herbig. The singers go along with the emotional South American approach, not without delicately savoring the music.

The two pianists offer mature quality. Benita Mehuslam, who has also recorded the complete works for piano by De Falla on the label, is featured here with excerpts, Dances from the The-Cornered Hat and Spanish pieces. In the only chamber work, besides the piano music, Klara Würtz accompanies cellist Timora Rosler on the piano in the Suite Populaire Espagnole. The two artists, who have also won awards as a duo, give the top dance of sensitivity and European noblesse, so to speak, with their interpretation that concludes the collection. Harpsichordist Rafael Puyana from Colombia can show all the registers of his skills in the harpsichord concerto. Here and also in El Retablode Maese Pedro as well as in Psyche the Solistas de Mexico play, again conducted by Eduardo Mata. Those who want to experience this composer intensively will find in this compilation a good opportunity to be infected by the joie de vivre of the music.

-- Pizzicato

Following its acclaimed Linn debut recording, Copland & Chávez: Pan-American Reflections, The Orchestra of the Americas releases its sophomore album with its Music Director, Carlos Miguel Prieto. Prieto is joined by fellow Mexican and celebrated pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, who brings his superb musicianship, powerful technique, vibrant imagination and deep passion to this all-Spanish programme. Osorio is the soloist in Falla’s highly atmospheric piano concerto, Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a set of symphonic impressions which conjures up the enticing sounds and scents of a summer’s evening. Conductor and pianist received critical acclaim following their performance of this work in Ireland: ‘Prieto elicited a diaphanous palette of colors [and] as Osorio’s arpeggios shimmered up and down the piano we were magnetically drawn into this highly evocative world full of lush sounds and sensuous possibilities’ (BachTrack). Falla’s masterpiece The Three-Cornered Hat is both vibrant and colorful and showcases the ‘superb precision’ of The Orchestra of the Americas. Falla’s finely crafted and meticulous work ensures that the piece’s folklore-based melodies are consistently accompanied by exquisite background music. The programme is completed by the Interlude & Dance from Falla’s La vida breve and the well-known Intermezzo from Granados’ Goyescas.

The three works on this album evoke the worlds of commedia dell'arte (Pulcinella), Don Quixote (El retablo de maese Pedro) and picaresque Spain (the Harpsichord Concerto). Telling their stories with color, rhythm and humor, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado and Benjamin Alard (playing a sumptuous Pleyel harpsichord) invite us to an exhilarating fireworks display.

Includes work(s) for piano by Manuel de Falla. Soloist: Daniel Ligorio.

Rovshan Mamedkuliev was first prize-winner at the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America Competition in 2012, and now stands as one of the world’s most exciting young instrumentalists. He has constructed a programme with several themes. Iberian music is represented by Falla, Albéniz and Turina, and by two of the titans of guitar playing, Miguel Llobet and Francisco Tárrega. He also includes music by his Azerbaijani compatriot, Fikret Amirov, whose folkloricinfluenced music is another thematic link. The kaleidoscopic Just How Funky Are You by Andrew York and Leo Brouwer’s An Idea explore the guitar’s contemporary vitality.

'Generally labelled as a Baroque instrument and thought to have disappeared with the French Revolution, the harpsichord flourished again in the first third of the 20th century and inspired original compositions': Justin Taylor offers us a 'personal' overview of the harpsichord in the 20th century. He has structured this album around four major concertos (Falla, Poulenc, Francaix, Gorecki) which are linked by pieces for solo harpsichord: Bartok, who, in his preface to Mikrokosmos, from which this Hommage to Bach is taken, suggests playing certain pieces on the harpsichord, Martinu and a new work by Stephane Gassot in reference to Ligeti... The programme concludes with a nod to Scott Joplin and his famous ragtimes. Always attentive and passionate about instruments, Justin Taylor chose to record the entire programme on a single instrument, a harpsichord built in the 1970s by Anthony Sidey, a hybrid model between Pleyel instruments and historical harpsichord making, which "gives a wide and highly varied range of colours". With this album, he follows in the footsteps of Wanda Landowska and Elisabeth Chojnacka, two pioneers who promoted the harpsichord in all it's modernity.

Returning to the roots of classical masterpieces: this is the mission of Zuzanna Sosnowska and pianist Magi Garcias on their GENUIN debut album titled "I'm Volkston" (In Folk Style). The duo explores the rich diversity of folk music from three distinct centuries and cultures, reflected in three masterworks for cello and piano. The internationally sought-after Sosnowska-Garcias Duo performs Robert Schumann's enchanting "Stucke i'm Volkston", Manuel de Falla's sun-drenched "Siete Canciones Populares Espa�olas", and Fazil Say's powerful musical portraits of Turkish cities, the sonata "Four Cities" (Dort Sehir). This moving collection of significant chamber music speaks from the heart and resonates deeply with listeners.

'The repertoire we have chosen for this album consists mainly of pieces that have been with me since my childhood.' With this recital, Johan Dalene, accompanied by Peter Friis Johansson, offers us a selection of popular violin pieces that have accompanied him since his early years. After hearing them in the family car on long journeys, he went on to learn them and then play them in competitions and in concerts. He Johan Dalene now gives us (and himself) a treat and continues the tradition of great violinists such as Heifetz, Perlman and Vengerov, who have all made recordings of favourite encores and recital pieces. Finally to record them himself proved to be an 'extremely inspiring and challenging project', says Dalene. The programme is built around three virtuoso works, Tzigane (Ravel), Introduction and Rondo capriccioso (Saint-Saens) and Carmen Fantasy (Waxman), alongside which more reflective pieces by Massenet, Tchaikovsky, Falla and Kreisler have been included. Also featured is a rarely played miniature by Swedish composer Amanda Maier - a work which, according to Dalene, 'is a gem full of spirit!' A programme that celebrates the multiple sides of the violin, at times virtuoso, at times lyrical, always seductive.

In this album, Lorquiana, Ana Maria Valderrama, violin, and David Kadouch, piano, project Lorca's musical personality into the future by compiling different scores linked in one way or another to the Andalusian artist. Poulenc's sonata illustrates the positive welcome of the political and social significance of Lorca's figure in France, where it became a symbol of freedom and resistance. Hahn's work, on the other hand, takes us to those happy and ephemeral Twenties of the last century that Lorca also enjoyed. Alizia Terzian's song shows the powerful influence that the poet has had in the Hispanic American context. The famous La vida breve passage is a nod to the veneration Lorca professed towards Falla. And, of course, we listen to Lorca's own creations in a rich selection of Spanish popular songs, iconic testimonies of his compositional activity that are revisited in an exceptional arrangement by Alberto Martin for violin and piano.

The album Falla 1915 offers us the opportunity to experience a composer reborn through two of his masterpieces. In Siete canciones populares espanolas, the orchestral imagination of composer Francisco Dominguez enriches the original piano accompaniment without losing any folkloric substance. The first version of El amor brujo rediscovers a title that was created to be much more jondo [deeper], rawer and with more gypsy soul than the ballet it later became. Passion and spirit, sensuality and color come together to highlight what Falla loved and defended most: the preservation of our memory and our cultural heritage.

This CD recording is the result of a succession of different moments of musical happiness and the encounter between the solo harpist of the Basel Symphony Orchestra, Aurelie Noll, and two exceptional musicians. María Cristina Kiehr and Yolena Orea-Sanchez (violoncello) have put their talent and artistic sensitivity at the service of this wonderful repertoire. The special sound of the harp creates a kind of new relief here and lends this unusual album its special charm. The program includes works by Reynaldo Hahn, Tchaikovsky, Manuel de Falla and Gabriel Faure. One highlight is certainly the new composition for soprano, cello and harp by Swiss composer Silvan Loher, whose delicate and impressionistic musical style fits wonderfully into this project. Soprano María Cristina Kiehr, born in Tandil, Argentina, is a specialist in "early music". The South American cellist Yolena Orea-Sanchez is a permanent member of the Basel Symphony Orchestra, as is the harpist Noll. She can be heard regularly at numerous European music festivals with the Trio Anthilia (violin, cello and piano), which she co-founded.

The Spanish pieces on this CD became famous mainly as solo guitar compositions by the three Catalan master pianists Isaac Albéniz, Joaquín Malats and Enrique Granados. I have often played them that way in concerts as well. In 2019, Nicolas and I had the idea to transcribe these works combined with works by Astor Piazzolla for viola and guitar. Since then, we have enjoyed playing this music in numerous concerts. The viola-guitar combination gives these compositions a whole new dimension. Compared to the solo guitar versions, the works appear in a completely new light, allowing the compositions to emit transparency and a variety of tonal colors.

The Spanish music of the CD program alternates with music by one of the most frequently performed works of Manuel de Falla (1876–1946), and the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992). Piazzolla is considered the great innovator of the Tango, the “Tango Nuevo”. He originally composed the “Histoire du Tango” for flute and guitar. The other compositions are short character pieces, all of which we have arranged for viola and guitar. The two movements “Bordel-1900” and “Café-1930” evoke the history of Tango in their respective eras. “Bordel-1900” goes back to the beginnings of the Tango. The new dance form was played in the brothels of Buenos Aires around this time. As “1930” marked a new era, the Tango was no longer danced as it was around 1900, and people limited themselves to listening to it. The Tango becomes more musical and romantic, the movements become slower, new harmonies are added. The music takes on a strong melancholic streak.

Folk music and dance have always been a fount of inspiration for art music, keeping it in touch with the soul of the people. However, the tendency of composers towards a universal musical language has considerably diluted the character of ethnic elements that they include, a phenomenon particularly noticeable in Europe. During the 18th century an artistic trend arose bringing out exotic color and charm. Composers began drawing on foreign folklore to spice their works with unfamiliar sounds, as for example the Rondo alla Turca in the sonata for piano in A major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At the same time, a rise in nationalism was also gradually taking place politically, with every country, even ethnic group, aspiring to distinguish itself from it's neighbors by it's own particular music. This movement is often the expression by oppressed peoples of a desire for emancipation. The canons of classical music, firmly standardized up to that time, had now to integrate the characteristics of folk melody and rhythm, be it in tonality, meter or structure. If this emergence of popular inspiration can be correlated with social developments, it can also touch the listener more directly. In addition, it gives the possibility to composers, sometimes far from their homeland, to remain connected to their cultural roots, as we shall see with Alberto Ginastera.

Divine Art is delighted to announce a superb collection of sensuous classical Spanish language songs for voice and piano, from the sublime musical partnership of lyric soprano Esther Rayo and renowned pianist and conductor Peter Grunberg. This program of works was first heard in a series of concerts given by the San Francisco based teaching and performance organization LIEDER ALIVE! The album features songs by early 20th century Spanish language composers: Fernando Obradors, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, Alberto Ginastera, Xavier Montsalvatge, Consuelo Velazquez and Manuel Ponce. Drawing from Spanish classical poetry and regional folk melodies, these vibrant song cycles offer appeal to art song aficionados and first-time listeners alike. Born in California, and surrounded by Spanish music and language, this music is close to Esther Rayo's heart. Her connection with these songs started when she was introduced to the music of Manuel Obradors while in college. Obradors offered the perfect starting point for her continued study and discovery of Spanish art song, and she was guided by the great 20th century sopranos Montserrat Caballe and Victoria de los Angeles, who kept this music alive. While she was at graduate school in 2017, Esther was introduced to Peter Grunberg by Maxine Bernstein, Founder and Director of LIEDER ALIVE! And they made an immediate musical connection around the works of Spanish language composers. LIEDER ALIVE! #helped provide opportunities for Peter and Esther to perform this music together, alongside it's standard mission of promoting German Lieder. Over the years they continued to study and learn more classical Spanish repertoire, resulting in this, their debut album together. And, even after all these years, they still feel they've only just scraped the surface of this wonderful repertoire!

For the fourth solo album by pianist Élodie Vignon on Cypres, we have long been dreaming of a recording with orchestra! And so begins this fruitful collaboration with Eric Lederhandler, head of the Czech Virtuosi ensemble, of which he has been guest conductor for the past twenty years. Just as Élodie Vignon's first three albums which weave links between music and poetry, this one presents a unique programme, designed by Élodie and Eric to give pride of place to both orchestra and piano.

Manuel de Falla's Nuits dans les jardins d’Espagne quickly established itself as a masterpiece, combining finesse with the need to translate popular Spanish folklore with wit. They are an evocation of Andalusia, and more particularly of gypsy music. Gabriel Fauré's Ballade pour piano et orchestra adds a touch of French Romanticism to this programme.

Leader of the Finnish national school, Jean Sibelius appears here in two different guises through symphonic pieces, ranging from the most exalted Retour de Lemminkäinen to the most intimate of The Bard.

Divine Art is delighted to announce a superb collection of sensuous classical Spanish language songs for voice and piano, from the sublime musical partnership of lyric soprano Esther Rayo and renowned pianist and conductor Peter Grunberg. This program of works was first heard in a series of concerts given by the San Francisco based teaching and performance organization LIEDER ALIVE! The album features songs by early 20th century Spanish language composers: Fernando Obradors, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, Alberto Ginastera, Xavier Montsalvatge, Consuelo Velazquez and Manuel Ponce. Drawing from Spanish classical poetry and regional folk melodies, these vibrant song cycles offer appeal to art song aficionados and first-time listeners alike. Born in California, and surrounded by Spanish music and language, this music is close to Esther Rayo's heart. Her connection with these songs started when she was introduced to the music of Manuel Obradors while in college. Obradors offered the perfect starting point for her continued study and discovery of Spanish art song, and she was guided by the great 20th century sopranos Montserrat Caballe and Victoria de los Angeles, who kept this music alive. While she was at graduate school in 2017, Esther was introduced to Peter Grunberg by Maxine Bernstein, Founder and Director of LIEDER ALIVE! And they made an immediate musical connection around the works of Spanish language composers. LIEDER ALIVE! #helped provide opportunities for Peter and Esther to perform this music together, alongside it's standard mission of promoting German Lieder. Over the years they continued to study and learn more classical Spanish repertoire, resulting in this, their debut album together. And, even after all these years, they still feel they've only just scraped the surface of this wonderful repertoire!

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce a release devoted to the singular 20th century Spanish composer and pianist, Manuel de Falla, with three late-Romantic scores that capture the very essence of Spain: The Three-Cornered Hat, Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Seven Spanish Folksongs. Against the backdrop of the First World War, Falla found fame and recognition in Spain as not only a leading composer, but one with a growing international reputation. This status was confirmed when Sergei Diaghilev commissioned the ballet, El sombrero de tres picos, for the Ballet Russes to perform in London in 1919, with stage designs by Pablo Picasso. The ballet, like the novel by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon that inspired it, incorporates Spanish storytelling that conjures up everyday village life, and Falla's music is rich in echoes of traditional Spanish folk tunes. Following a musically enriching sojourn in Paris from 1907 to 1914, Falla returned to Spain with the completed Siete canciones populares espa�olas and sketches for what would become Noches en los jardines de Espa�a. Subtitled 'symphonic impressions for piano and orchestra,' Noches en los jardines de Espa�a is a three-movement portrayal of the sounds and sights of Falla's native Andalusia rendered magical under the cover of darkness. Following the premiere in Madrid in 1916, Falla himself was the soloist for the work's first performance in London in 1921. While El sombrero de tres picos and Noches en los jardines de Espa�a were Falla's imaginative evocations of Spanish folk music, both the texts and the melodies of Siete canciones populares espa�olas were traditional, although Falla's original arrangement for soprano and piano added much to the effectiveness of these songs from different regions of Spain. This work is one of Falla's most arranged compositions; the orchestrated version here is by Luciano Berio. This recording features the Ulster Orchestra with their Principal Guest Conductor, Jac van Steen. The soloist for Noches en los jardines de Espa�a is the London based Brazilian pianist, Clelia Iruzun, one of SOMM's long-time collaborators and treasured artists. She is undoubtedly amongst the finest pianists in South American and Iberian repertoire currently performing in Europe, and several composers have dedicated works to her. The prize-winning Irish mezzo soprano, Sarah Richmond, is making her CD debut in Siete canciones populares espa�olas. Jac van Steen's previous SOMM releases include acclaimed recordings of Mozart piano concertos with Peter Donohoe and Valerie Tryon (SOMMCD 278-2); The Deeper the Blue, an intriguing exploration of colour and timbre in music featuring Vaughan Williams, Ravel, Dutilleux, and Kenneth Hesketh (SOMMCD 275); and the International Classical Music Awards-nominated pairing of concertos by Albeniz and Mignone with Clelia Iruzun (SOMMCD 265).

From the sixteenth century to the present day, fantasias have developed from improvisatory and virtuosic works for lute, to extended and elaborate works for ensembles, solo keyboard instruments and full orchestra. The dazzling array of works featured in this album showcases how composers have delighted in allowing their creativity and imagination to take precedence over conventional styles and forms.

Anna Fedorova explores the Intrigues of the Darkness in these programmatic and extremely virtuosic works for solo piano. The journey from darkness to light begins with Scriabin's terrifying "Black Mass" Sonata. The work represents a satanic ritual that is possessed by the spectre of the Mephistophelian Liszt. de Falla's Suite from El Amor brujo conjures a mysterious world, full of magic, rituals and ghost visitations. Ravel described his Gaspard de la nuit as "romantic and of transcendent virtuosity". These highly evocative pieces are based on Aloysius Bertrand's prose poems depicting scenes of a hanged man sighing on the gallows and a devilish dwarf. Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition portrays many scenes of darkness but emerges into light with the Great Gate of Kiev, in which triumphant episodes alternate with moments of religious contemplation.

FANTASIA BAETICA & OTHER PIANO MUSIC