Manuel de Falla - Noches en los jardines de España; etc. (Javier Perianes)

Information

Composer: Manuel de Falla

1. Cuatro piezas españolas, G. 37: 1. Aragonesa
2. Cuatro piezas españolas, G. 37: 2. Cubana
3. Cuatro piezas españolas, G. 37: 3. Montañesa (Paysage)
4. Cuatro piezas españolas, G. 37: 4. Andaluza
5. Fantasía Baetica "à Arthur Rubinstein", G. 55
6. Hommage à Debussy "Le tombeau de Claude Debussy", G. 56
7. Pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas, G. 83
8. Noches en los jardines de España: 1. En el generalife
9. Noches en los jardines de España: 2. Danza lejana
10. Noches en los jardines de España: 3. En los jardines de la sierra de Córdoba
11. Canción, G. 14
12. Nocturno, G. 3
13. Mazurka in C minor, G. 11
14. Serenata andaluza, G. 13

Javier Perianes, piano
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Josep Pons (8-10)
Date: 2011
Label: Harmonia Mundi
http://www.harmoniamundi.com/#!/albums/1712

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Review

Javier Perianes offers a taste of his native Spain

This is a disc to lift the spirits. Whether the music is sultry, strenuous or sunny, Javier Perianes plays with an infallible ear for style, atmosphere and colour. Most of the works here testify to their composer’s nationality, harnessing as they do distinctive Spanish inflections of rhythm and melodic shaping, but there are exceptions. An early Nocturno and Mazurka from the 1890s show that, as with Falla’s Russian contemporary Scriabin, the influence of Chopin was still making itself felt half a century after his death. A Canción from 1900 has the languid air of a Chopin nocturne beautifully crafted above a hypnotic bass-line reminiscent of a Satie Gymnopédie. A much later piece, the solemn and harmonically piquant Pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas of 1935, is more difficult to place, although the textures and timbres seem to have their origins in the French music with which Falla became familiar during his sojourn in Paris during the years before the First World War.

Surprisingly enough, given that he was such a remarkable pianist, Falla wrote comparatively little for his own instrument. Most of it – but not quite all – is recorded here, with the Cuatro piezas españolas showing how vibrantly and sensitively he could summon up the sensuality and exuberance of Spanish musical traits. The Fantasia Baetica, written for Arthur Rubinstein, does so with particular force, and in the Nights in the Gardens of Spain the BBC Symphony Orchestra joins Perianes for a performance of panache and captivating flair and freshness.

-- Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: *****
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/08/de-falla-perianes-review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/de-falla-noches-en-los-jardines-de-espa%C3%B1a-mw0002198017
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Falla-Noches-Jardines-Espana-Gardens/dp/B0055G0BFS/

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Manuel de Falla (23 November 1876 – 14 November 1946) was a Spanish composer. He attended the Real Conservatorio de Música y Declamación, studied piano with José Tragó and composition with Felipe Pedrell. His first important work was the one-act opera "La vida breve". Among his best known works are two ballets ("El amor brujo" and "El sombrero de tres picos") and the nocturne for piano and orchestra "Nights in the Gardens of Spain". With Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Falla

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Javier Perianes (born in 1978 in Nerva, Spain) is a classical pianist. He is a participant at many renowned festivals and has performed in distinguished concert series throughout the world. He has been a frequent prize-winner at competitions and has worked with leading conductors. Perianes has received critical acclaim for his recordings on Harmonia Mundi of Schubert's, Manuel Blasco de Nebra’s, Mompou’s, Manuel de Falla's and Grieg's piano works.

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

http://www.javierperianes.com/

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