WGBH Radio WGBH Radio theclassicalstation.org

Albéniz: Piano Music Vol 3 / Guillermo González


Release Date: 04/28/2009 
Label:  Naxos   Catalog #: 8572196   Spars Code: n/a 
Composer:  Isaac Albeniz
Performer:  Guillermo González
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 10 Mins. 

Low Stock: Currently 3 or fewer in stock. Usually ships in 24 hours, unless stock becomes depleted.  

Notes and Editorial Reviews



ALBÉNIZ Danzas españolas. Pequeños valses. Mazurkas de salon • Guillermo González (pn) • NAXOS 8.572196 (69:42)


Isaac Albéniz wrote some of the defining piano music of the Spanish school. By and large, this is not it. This disc, the third in Naxos’s Albéniz series, is devoted to salon music composed early in the composer’s life. At the time, he was known as a piano virtuoso who also gave lessons to young ladies to whom he dedicated many of his salon pieces, including all Read more six of these mazurkas.


Premonitions of the mature Albéniz may be glimpsed in the Danzas españolas , which shares a pleasant lilt, usually in habanera rhythm, and the composer’s predilection for a melodic line in three against a languid accompanying figure in four. The pieces resemble Granados’s later set of Spanish Dances in their occasional underlying hint of melancholy, but those in Albéniz’s set are neither as formally diverse nor as pianistically challenging as are those of his slightly younger contemporary. Chopin is the predominant influence in the sets of waltzes and mazurkas. Once again the results, while mellifluous and polished, are no comparison to the works of the Polish master in terms of ingenuity and memorability.


González, a noted Albéniz specialist, has the kind of muscular technique necessary to tackle Iberia and the late masterpieces, but lacks delicacy in this refined repertoire. There would be no whispering or throat clearing in his salon! Overall, this is a pleasant collection but unrepresentative of the composer’s most exciting work. If you are curious about the antecedents of Iberia , it is worth a listen.


FANFARE: Phillip Scott
Read less

Works on This Recording

1.
Danzas españolas (6), Op. 37 by Isaac Albeniz
Performer:  Guillermo González (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1887; Spain 
2.
Pequeños valses (6), Op. 25 by Isaac Albeniz
Performer:  Guillermo González (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: Spain 
3.
Mazurkas de salón (6), Op. 66 by Isaac Albeniz
Performer:  Guillermo González (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1886; Spain 

Featured Sound Samples

Pequeños valses: No 6: Allegro molto
Mazurkas de salón, op 66: No 5: Christa

Customer Reviews

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