The Albéniz Piano Music Series Continues Nicely
J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 10/20/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's been eight long years since the first in this Naxos series of Albéniz's piano music was issued. That 2CD set, containing among other things his 'Ibéria', was acclaimed. The present CD contains less familiar music but frankly is there anything by Albéniz that isn't a joy to hear? I don't think I know of anyone who dislikes his piano music. (I expect I may hear from them in the Comments section of this review, and perhaps I will learn their reasons.) Guillermo González, a student of Vlado Perlemuter among others, is a fine pianist, long a member of the piano faculty at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid. He specializes in Spanish music.
Most of the music on this disc is from Albéniz's later years when he was living in Paris. But the first set of works, the 'Recuerdos de viaje' ('Reminiscences of Travel') was composed in Madrid shortly after the 26-year-old composer had moved there with his young family. The 'travel' referred to sightseeing in Spain: e.g., the Alhambra, a site in the port city of Cadiz, the beach, 'Murmurs at a Cove', 'On the Water', etc. This music, while unmistakably Spanish in character, is not as complex harmonically or rhythmically as the later works. 'Espagne (Souvenirs)' is a suite of two pieces -- 'Prélude' and 'Asturias' -- and is not to be confused with the more commonly heard Española suites. The 'Asturias', a melancholy work sounding Debussyan, is not the more familiar one more often heard in a guitar version. These two pieces are from 1896 and immediately precede 'La Vega', also heard here, which is considered the first of Albéniz's mature works. 'La Vega' ('The Plain') is a 15-minute work originally intended to be orchestrated as part of a suite; Albéniz never did orchestrate it nor write the other parts of the suite, so it stands alone. It is surely one of Albéniz's greatest piano works, standing as the equal of the pieces that make up his more familiar 'Ibéria' set. I had never heard it until Marc-André Hamelin included it with his recent recording of 'Ibéria', and I fell in love with its musing, melancholy tunefulness.
There are two pieces here that Albéniz never finished. 'Azulejos' ('Tiles'), written not long before Albéniz's untimely death in 1909 at 49, was to have been part of a suite that never got written. It was finished by Albéniz's friend, Enrique Granados. Quintessentially Spanish in melody, rhythm and figuration, it is a complex work whose mosaic-like construction repays frequent relistening. The technically challenging and rhythmically bracing 'Navarra' was also from 1909 and was finished by Albéniz's student, Déodat Séverac. Séverac did not elaborate the sketchy materials and the work in ABA form ends rather abruptly. The piece has also been reconstructed by William Bolcom and elaborated to about ten-minutes' length; it is that version that Hamelin plays on his 'Ibéria' set. I admit I prefer the Bolcom version, but am glad to hear Séverac's. González certainly makes a good case for it.
Albéniz wrote a great deal more piano music and although I've not seen it announced anywhere, my hope is that Naxos, which labels this CD as 'Volume 2', plans to record the whole lot. Certainly Guillermo González is an apt pianist for such a project. I just hope it doesn't take another eight years before we get another volume.
Scott Morrison"
