Isaac Albéniz; Enrique Granados - Piano Concertos (Melani Mestre)

Information

Composer: Isaac Albéniz; Enrique Granados

1. Albéniz - Concierto fantástico in A minor, Op. 78: 1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Albéniz - Concierto fantástico in A minor, Op. 78: 2. Rêverie et Scherzo: Andante - Presto
3. Albéniz - Concierto fantástico in A minor, Op. 78: 3. Allegro
4. Albéniz - Rapsodia española, Op. 70
5. Granados - Piano Concerto in C minor "Patético" (arr. Mestre): 1. Lento grave e quasi recitativo - Allegro grave non molto lento (sketches)
6. Granados - Piano Concerto in C minor "Patético" (arr. Mestre): 2. Allegretto (Orientale, Op. 37 No. 2 & Capricho español, Op. 39)
7. Granados - Piano Concerto in C minor "Patético" (arr. Mestre): 3. Molto Allegro (Allegro de concierto, Op. 46)

Melani Mestre, piano
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Date: 2012
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67918

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Review

This absorbing disc, the 65th in Hyperion’s endlessly enterprising ‘Romantic Piano Concerto’ series, juxtaposes the Albéniz Concerto with two first recordings: his Rapsodia española in the San Sebastián version, and Granados’s C minor Concerto patético in a reconstruction of fragments by the pianist Melani Mestre. Oddly subtitled Fantástico, the Concerto shows little trace of either Albéniz’s early picture-postcard Spain or the later marvels of his masterpiece, Iberia.

Very much for those who like music that makes few demands, it was elegantly described on its first London performance as ‘pleasing though not lofty in design’. Certainly the second movement’s breezy seaside tune will set heads nodding and feet tapping, and it is remarkable that the authentically Spanish Rapsodia española was completed at the same time as the Concerto. Sultry and Moorish before bursting out into all the fun of the feria, the Rapsodia is hard to resist and will appeal to those in love with all things southern and Spanish.

Yet the chief interest lies in the Granados, solemn and declamatory in the first movement before leaving its C minor sense of elegy to recall two earlier Spanish Dances and the composer’s one unabashed showpiece, the Allegro de concierto. Musical adventure could hardly go further. Impeccably recorded, all the performances by Melani Mestre and the BBC Scottish Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins are of an unfaltering fluency and stylistic command.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

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Isaac Albéniz (29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms. His activities as conductor, performer and composer significantly raised the profile of Spanish music abroad and encouraged Spanish music and musicians in his own country. Transcriptions of many of his pieces, such as Asturias (Leyenda), Granada, Sevilla, Cádiz, Córdoba, Cataluña, and the Tango in D, are important pieces for classical guitar, though he never composed for the guitar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Alb%C3%A9niz

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Enrique Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916) was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music, best known for his compositions for piano such as 12 Spanish Dances and Goyesca, a suite based on Franciso Goya's painting. Granados was an important influence on at least two other important Spanish composers and musicians, Manuel de Falla and Pablo Casals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Granados

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Melani Mestre (born 1976 in Barcelona) is an Catalonia pianist and conductor.  He studied with José A Calvo and Alicia de Larrocha, themselves disciples of Frank Marshall, thereby directly inheriting the cherished Catalan piano tradition of Enrique Granados. Melani Mestre has a repertoire of over forty concertos, champions little-known repertoire as both pianist and conductor. Mestre was appointed chief conductor of the Lviv Symphony Orchestra in Ukraine in 2007. He is also principal conductor of the Orquesta Filarmonía Ibérica.

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A2497

http://aimbcn.com/melani-mestre/

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