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Post by julesd68 on Sept 30, 2019 23:03:28 GMT
This month I'm hoping to have chosen an album you may not be familiar with, even if you know some of the music. It's a 1974 recording on Decca of Falla's Piano Music, exquisitely played by the iridescent Alicia De Laroccha. I discovered this jewel of an album after hearing the captivating and highly charged 'Fantasia Beatica' played in a recital a few years back. De Laroccha is utterly transcendent in this work, with such grace and fluidity as she cascades the length and breadth of the keyboard with the purist and noblest of virtuosity. It has become one of my most treasured performances. Her playing is just so nuanced and subtle throughout the album, yet utterly heartfelt as she manages to instill an almost wistful melancholia into this highly colourful and dramatic music from The Three Cornered Hat and El Amor Brujo, without ever descending to cliche or excess ornamentation, which would be very easy to do in the wrong hands. The 'Danza del Rituo...' is a familiar but potent and immaculate pleasure to finish the album. Truly a performance in which you can just lose yourself in the music.  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2019 10:02:04 GMT
I generally like piano based classical music, but I can’t get on with this at all, far too samey for me I am afraid.
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Post by Slinger on Oct 1, 2019 17:05:49 GMT
Not for me I'm afraid. I knew the Ritual Fire Dance of course, which sounds much better, to me at least, when orchestrated. The rest was just too strident in the most part. There were times when I felt that De Laroccha was trying to beat her instrument into submission, which is more the fault of the music than the musician I'd imagine. There were a few nice passages but nothing that convinced me to elevate it above a 3/5.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 1, 2019 22:39:09 GMT
It's a rip-roaring success from the off!
LOL.
Entirely falla-cious.😂
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 4, 2019 22:14:26 GMT
Can I not tempt anyone else??
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Post by John on Oct 5, 2019 6:24:20 GMT
It a 3 for me I am afraid I tend to prefer something with a more contemporary feel than this
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 5, 2019 8:35:48 GMT
Contemporary classical music? What's that??  Thanks for giving it a go ... |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 9, 2019 10:02:05 GMT
Thanks, Jules. I'm late to this and only really know Falla's Three Cornered Hat.
I'm listening now and will comment later.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 9, 2019 10:43:37 GMT
Of course, silly me, the Three Cornered Hat is featured, I had just missed the Spanish titles first time around.
Some of the piano playing is excellent and I did enjoy the TCH very much. Some other pieces are a little samey and forgettable.
Overall 3/5.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 9, 2019 11:38:55 GMT
I'm wondering if I could tempt young jandl100 to give this the once over ...  |
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Post by Slinger on Oct 9, 2019 13:11:48 GMT
I'm wondering if I could tempt young jandl100 to give this the once over ... I must admit to wondering why Jerry seems to have swerved this one. |
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Post by jandl100 on Oct 9, 2019 16:37:53 GMT
Oops - I didn't even see it!  |
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 9, 2019 16:42:28 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Oct 9, 2019 16:45:33 GMT
Perhaps Jerry sees de Falla as the Poulenc of Spain? |
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 9, 2019 16:57:45 GMT
LOL, that is a possibility ... I have a thick skin, I can take it Jerry! |
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Post by jandl100 on Oct 9, 2019 17:11:10 GMT
At first I didn't like ADL's playing - it seemed very clunky and unsubtle to me.
But after playing some other recordings of the 1st and 2nd tracks, I have to guess that it's the music that has a kind of jerky disjointedness to the rhythms that I find rather irritating. Going back to ADL I can start to hear her subtlety in the context of the music.
Overall, I like the slower music much more than the upbeat.
Montanesa is quite lovely, but Andaluza that follows rubs me up the wrong way.
A very mixed bag, I'd go for a carefully selected (and very brief!) album of highlights.
The nice bits (according to me) - tracks 3 & 12 - rate a 2, but the jerky upbeat bits predominate so I'll call it a 4 overall, I think.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 9, 2019 18:11:24 GMT
Thank you for your most prompt response maestro Jerry!
As ever, good to see our different responses to the same music. I absolutely adore the uptempo tracks like Fantasia Beatica ... I know what you mean about the 'disjointedness' to the rhythms - to me it's very much in the spirit of Flamenco etc and I enjoy it when used in this way; I feel it's part of the 'flavour' of rural Spain and most evocative. Do give it another go sometime! But I appreciate it's not everyone's cup of tea ...
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Post by jandl100 on Oct 9, 2019 18:13:45 GMT
Hmm, maybe. I lived in rural Spain for 2 years, and in all that time I never saw the locals jerking around like that! |
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 9, 2019 18:26:59 GMT
LOL - you were obviously living in the wrong part of Spain! Joking aside, I think you have to look at the time the music was made - Falla was heavily influenced by native Spanish music, particularly Flamenco as I said ... |
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