Enrique Granados; Isaac Albéniz - Goyescas; Iberia (Artur Pizarro)

Information

Composer: Enrique Granados; Isaac Albéniz

• Granados - Goyescas
• Albéniz - Iberia

Artur Pizarro, piano

Date: 2010

Label: Linn

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Review

The six thematically connected Goyescas, published in two volumes (1910 and 1914), are subtitled “Los majos enamorados” (“The Majos in Love”). The majos were the dandified lower classes of Spain (especially Madrid) at the turn of the 18th century, and a favourite subject of Goya. So these “Goya-like” works, inspired, as Granados wrote, by “the psychology of Goya and his palette”, are love poems and Artur Pizarro captures their improvised, dreamlike quality to perfection with a golden tone and caressing touch. I think, though, that he seriously overdoes the internal musings of No 2, “Coloquio en la reja”. At 13'33" it seems interminable. As realised by Ken Caswell on Volume 2 of a most valuable and (for once) convincing series of Welte piano rolls on disc (Pierian), Granados’s 1913 recording lasts just 9'27" without losing any of the work’s essential character. In the suite’s most famous number, popularly known as “The Maiden and the Nightingale”, Pizzaro elongates Granados’s string of rits, ralls and tenutos to a lengthy 8'05" (Granados 6'34", the endearing Myra Hess in 1957, 6'32"). Pizarro can boast a finer recorded sound but Alicia de Larrocha (on EMI or Decca) still reigns supreme in all six – and includes “El pelele”, published separately but traditionally included in the set.

In Iberia, Albéniz’s formidable masterpiece (12 works published in four volumes, 1906-09), Pizarro has not only de Larrocha’s legendary recording(s) to compete with but Marc-André Hamelin’s very different take (Hyperion, 6/05). To generalise, if de Larrocha takes the more robust and theatrical view of the music and Hamelin is the more technically nonchalant and textually astute (the only one, by the way, fully to accommodate Albéniz’s extreme dynamics, ranging from quintuple piano to quintuple forte), Pizarro is the more emotionally contained. He is at his best when the music demands charm and introspection (“Rondeña”, “El polo”), less good at conveying such frequent requests for brusque, sec and appassionato (“El Corpus en Sevilla”, “Eritaña”) where Hamelin’s crisper, wittier turn of phrase conjures up castanets and rioja. That said, it is difficult not to fall for Pizarro’s lyrical grace, the even temperament of his approach and the unfailingly lovely sound he produces (he has been very well recorded), a distinct advantage over de Larrocha.

— Jeremy Nicholas

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Enrique Granados (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916) was a Spanish composer and pianist from Catalonia. A student of Felipe Pedrell, he rose to prominence with his Danzas españolas and soon established himself as one of Spain's foremost pianists. In addition to his celebrated piano works, Granados also composed several operas and founded a piano academy in Barcelona. Deeply influenced by 18th-century and Spanish artistic traditions, he created the renowned Goyescas, inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya. Granados's life ended tragically when the Sussex was torpedoed during his return voyage from New York.

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Isaac Albéniz (29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish composer and virtuoso pianist. A prodigy who performed from age four, he studied in Leipzig and Brussels before teaching in Barcelona and Madrid. Initially known for light salon music, Albéniz began serious composition around 1890 under the guidance of Felipe Pedrell. He later settled in Paris where he was influenced by French composers such as Dukas and d'Indy. His works vividly capture the spirit of Spain through folk-inspired melodies and rhythms, with his masterpiece Iberia (1905–09) hailed as one of the greatest piano compositions ever written.

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Artur Pizarro (born 1968 in Lisbon) is an internationally-acclaimed Portuguese concert pianist. He studied with Sequeira Costa in Lisbon and at the University of Kansas. His other teachers include Aldo Ciccolini, Géry Moutier and Bruno Rigutto at the Conservatoire de Paris. Pizarro won first prize in several international piano competitions, and has performed internationally in solo recitals, in duos, with chamber music groups, and as a soloist with the world's leading orchestras. He has an extensive discography available on Linn Records, as well as on Naxos, Hyperion, Collins Classics, and other labels.

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