Search - Turina, Darman, Castile & Leon So :: Sinfonia Sevillana

Turina gets an long-deserved airing

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 01/31/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Is there anyone who doesn't respond to the voluptuous melodies and alternately sultry or invigorating rhythms of 20th century Spanish music? We've been lavished with great recordings of Spanish music by pianists of at least three generations: Arthur Rubinstein (in Spain he was called 'our Arturo'), Alicia de Larrocha, and now Santiago Rodriguez. But recordings of the extensive Spanish orchestral repertoire of this period has shamefully been largely limited to a few well-known pieces: 'La Vida Breve,' 'Three-Cornered Hat,' the orchestral version of 'Ibéria,' 'Nights in the Gardens of Spain'; 'Spanish' pieces by French and Russian composers don't count. Turina's music is treated like a step-child. He's of the same generation as De Falla and has pretty much been in his shadow. At any rate, when is the last time (if ever) you heard any of these pieces in a concert?Probably the best-known pieces here are the three 'Danzas fantásticas,' at least partly because they exist in a fairly popular piano version. I've loved the second of them, 'Ensueño' ('Dream'), as a separate piece for many years, after first hearing it played by Rubinstein. And occasionally one will hear Turina's earliest orchestral piece: 'La procesión del Rocio,' which depicts a religious procession in a small town near Seville. One hears church bells and the Spanish national anthem as the procession wends its way toward the village church.'Ritmos' was written in the 1920s as a ballet for the famous Spanish dancer 'La Argentina', but it was never staged and it has rarely been heard outside Spain since its 1928 première. It is in six movements, played without pause. The most evocative is the last one, 'Danza exótica', which recalls themes from the earlier movements in languid, and then exciting, rhythms.The most important piece on this disc is the 'Sinfonía sevillana', which some consider Turina's orchestral masterpiece. It is certainly one of the most important Spanish sympthonies of its century. The middle movement, 'Por el río Guadalquivir', is a subtly perfumed nocturne. It is followed by the raucous dance episodes of 'Fiesta en San Juan de Aznalfarache,' which closes out the symphony with finger-snapping vigor. It must be noted that the spectacularly talented Spanish conductor, Jésus López-Cobos, recorded all these pieces (except for 'Ritmos') with the Cincinnati Symphony just before he left his long-time post as music director there. I've not heard that recording, but from his earlier recording of Albéniz's 'Ibéria' with that orchestra, I would bet it's a scorcher. This recording is with a regional Spanish orchestra and the playing is a little rough and ready in places, but the players certainly have this music in their bones and the Iberian spirit is all there. And you can't beat Naxos's prices, can you?"

Mediocre sound

Canzone | California | 07/22/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Although I'm no stickler for the latest digital wizardry, the sound is what hurts thess performances, not the conducting, or even the somewhat hurley-burley orchestra. The Sinfonia is a major work, and deserves a wider audience; the orchestral versions of the Danzas are an interesting alternative to the *excellent* piano version on Naxos (Jordi Maso); and the Ritmos will be new to most listeners. But...this CD has the unfortunate characteristic problems with treble common to many early CDs (though this recording is by no means old). The violins get quite shrill at times, especially in loud passages. I'd enthusiastically recommend the Lopez-Cobos reading of the Sinfonia and Danzas, but unfortunately his CD also has a surprisingly tepid version of Iberia. The Naxos CD is a keeper - but it could have been so much better."