This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.
Notes and Editorial Reviews
The late Rafael Frübeck de Burgos was an excellent conductor in much more than Spanish music. A powerful exponent of the choral repertoire (Elijah, Carmina Burana), he also left us a superb disc of Liszt tone poems on BIS, and back in the early 80s I heard him lead the most thrilling Brahms Third Symphony with the National Symphony of Washington, D.C. that I have ever witnessed in concert. Still, it was for the Spanish repertoire that he was best known, and for good reason.
This version of Falla’s El amor brujo is a case in point. It is passionate, elegant, colorful, and rhythmically vital despite a couple of surprisingly deliberate tempos–in the Ritual Fire Dance, for instance.
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It also has hands down the best vocal soloist ever to take the part in the incomparable Nati Mistral. Her mezzo soprano has just the right earthy quality that the music demands, allied to perfect accuracy of pitch and amazing clarity of diction. No screaming and shouting here: just an incontestable feeling of rightness in everything that she does.
The couplings, the Intermezzo from Goyescas and the conductor’s own orchestral setting of Albéniz’ Suite española, are equally well done. The Suite, in particular, is wholly stylish and convincing, and now that Frühbeck de Burgos is no longer with us, it deserves to enter the repertoire as a worthy memento of his art. Terrific sonics make this disc essential listening. Note that El amor brujo is also available on Decca’s “The Essential Falla” two-disc collection, an excellent alternative choice.
-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla
Performer:
Nati Mistral (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor:
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Orchestra/Ensemble:
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1915; Spain
2.
Goyescas: Intermezzo by Enrique Granados
Conductor:
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Orchestra/Ensemble:
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1914-1916; Spain
3.
Suite española, Op. 47 by Isaac Albeniz
Conductor:
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Orchestra/Ensemble:
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1886; Madrid, Spain
Notes: Orchestrated: Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
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