WGBH Radio WGBH Radio theclassicalstation.org

Granados: Goyescas / Garrick Ohlsson

Granados / Ohlsson
Release Date: 02/14/2012 
Label:  Hyperion   Catalog #: 67846  
Composer:  Enrique Granados
Performer:  Garrick Ohlsson
Number of Discs: 1 
Low Stock: Currently 3 or fewer in stock. Usually ships in 24 hours, unless stock becomes depleted.  

Notes and Editorial Reviews

Garrick Ohlsson's huge hands and supple fingers embrace Granados' passionate, intricately-wrought idiom with the utmost ease and sympathy, while at the same time making the six pieces of Goyescas absolutely his own. While Ohlsson's rubatos and dynamic surges may not palpitate as much as Alicia De Larrocha's (compare, for example, his relatively contained climaxes in Coloquio en la reja to Laroccha's, which are bursting at the seams), his interpretations offer plenty of details to savor.

Perky inner voices and deliciously varied guitar-like strums keep Los requiebros afloat, despite the pianist not adhering to all of the composer's tempo fluctuations. Conversely, Ohlsson projects El fandango del candil's sultry swagger while Read more strictly adhering to Granados' articulation indications. Quejas o la Maja is appropriately lyrical and flexible, although the final cadenza's bird-like trills don't match Cristina Ortiz's lightness and fantasy. However, the lengthy El amor y la muerte benefits from Ohlsson's headlong sweep and power. The latter characteristics impart a kind of Brahmsian solidity to El pelele's busy left-hand passages.

Lastly, Granados' prize-winning competition piece Allegro de Concierto abounds with Lisztian panache and full-bodied orchestral textures--qualities that are right up Ohlsson's pianistic alley. Indeed, it's hard to choose between his suave, elegantly glittering reading and the more nuanced and poetic 1985 Larrocha digital remake. Hyperion's fine engineering and booklet notes sweeten this disc's appeal. Recommended.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
Read less

Works on This Recording

1.
Goyescas for Piano, Op. 11 by Enrique Granados
Performer:  Garrick Ohlsson (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1911; Spain 
 Date of Recording: 6/2011 
Venue:  Henry Wood Hall, London, England  
2.
Goyescas for Piano, Op. 11: Book 2 - no 7, El pelele by Enrique Granados
Performer:  Garrick Ohlsson (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1911; Spain 
 Date of Recording: 6/2011 
Venue:  Henry Wood Hall, London, England 
3.
Allegro de concierto for Piano by Enrique Granados
Performer:  Garrick Ohlsson (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: Spain 
 Date of Recording: 6/2011 
Venue:  Henry Wood Hall, London, England 

Customer Reviews

Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
Review This Title Share on Facebook