Enrique Granados [1867-1916]

[Scion7]

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[Scion7]

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[Spineur]

Anyone else prefer the chamber pieces and the orchestral works over the solo piano music by this composer? 

I like his chamber pieces and the solo piano best.  The orchestral works, Goyescas play on local colors a lot, which I tend to get tired off after a while.
Thanks for this thread.  I did not know that he and his wife were WWII victims.

[Scion7]

World War I.
1916, ye know.   

Well, he's a secondary composer and all that - I like to fill in info on people like this for the SSMS - Scion Sunday Morning Seminars - before I do the usual Sunday bit around town with friends and my Hungarian nurse-hottie.   

[Scion7]

' Mechanical piano transcriptions made of turn-of the-Century pianist's using Edwin Welte's 1904 piano music reproduction system. Sony / Superscope sponsored audiophile recordings of these performances "almost 70 years later" resulting in this series of releases on vinyl and consumer reel to reel in the early 1970's '

[Scion7]

Chopin, and Granados "Valse poeticos."

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Great composition by Granados and fine performance by Orchestra Gran Canaria. The sound quality is better than Naxos.

[Todd]

I've been waiting to listen to Kun-Woo Paik's recording of Goyescas.  I keep hoping it will be available for legitimate download in the US, but so far that has not occurred.  I did find a download store out of Montenegro that allows unlimited downloads for thirty days for just over twenty Euros, but I do not feel like providing my credit card info.  So I decided to stream the recording.

Apparently, Paik has long wanted to record this piece, and it kind of shows.  This is a long, slow take.  Using Alicia de Larrocha's Hispavox recording as a benchmark, Paik is slower in every movement, by a minimum of around thirty seconds at the low end, and over two minutes at the high end.  The whole thing comes in at about sixty-three minutes.  What does one get in such a slow recording?  Lavish attention to detail, that's what.  That, and a wonderful languidness.  Well, those things, and lovely tone and exaggerated dynamics due to the close recording.  Everything is on display in Los requiebros, where Paik sort of lets the right hand briefly meander, and he delivers some very guitar like playing, albeit it slowly.  El fandango de candil, clocking in at over seven minutes, sounds languid and heavy and sluggish – and feels just right.  But it is the thirteen-and-a-half minute El Amor y la Muerte that serves as the centerpiece itself.  Paik starts with left hand playing so heavy and thick it almost approximates an organ.  The pulse of the music nearly dies, which seems appropriate, as it grimly yet beautifully and at times tenderly proceeds through to the exhausted coda.  The dark yet bright, serious yet comical, slow (over eight-and-a-half minutes) yet never sluggish Epilogo sounds just right.  To cap things off, Paik ups the energy, rhythmic elan, and tonal brightness in a most satisfactory El pelele.

This recording is so good that I will hunt down a copy to own, in some format, and it may even require a full shoot-out with the heavy hitters to determine the best recording ever.  People less susceptible to Paik's magic may be less enthusiastic.

(And I not at all secretly hope that Arcadi Volodos, who has spent many years in Spain, takes up this work because, well, because.) 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I've been waiting to listen to Kun-Woo Paik's recording of Goyescas.  I keep hoping it will be available for legitimate download in the US, but so far that has not occurred.  I did find a download store out of Montenegro that allows unlimited downloads for thirty days for just over twenty Euros, but I do not feel like providing my credit card info.  So I decided to stream the recording.

Apparently, Paik has long wanted to record this piece, and it kind of shows.  This is a long, slow take.  Using Alicia de Larrocha's Hispavox recording as a benchmark, Paik is slower in every movement, by a minimum of around thirty seconds at the low end, and over two minutes at the high end.  The whole thing comes in at about sixty-three minutes.  What does one get in such a slow recording?  Lavish attention to detail, that's what.  That, and a wonderful languidness.  Well, those things, and lovely tone and exaggerated dynamics due to the close recording.  Everything is on display in Los requiebros, where Paik sort of lets the right hand briefly meander, and he delivers some very guitar like playing, albeit it slowly.  El fandango de candil, clocking in at over seven minutes, sounds languid and heavy and sluggish – and feels just right.  But it is the thirteen-and-a-half minute El Amor y la Muerte that serves as the centerpiece itself.  Paik starts with left hand playing so heavy and thick it almost approximates an organ.  The pulse of the music nearly dies, which seems appropriate, as it grimly yet beautifully and at times tenderly proceeds through to the exhausted coda.  The dark yet bright, serious yet comical, slow (over eight-and-a-half minutes) yet never sluggish Epilogo sounds just right.  To cap things off, Paik ups the energy, rhythmic elan, and tonal brightness in a most satisfactory El pelele.

This recording is so good that I will hunt down a copy to own, in some format, and it may even require a full shoot-out with the heavy hitters to determine the best recording ever.  People less susceptible to Paik's magic may be less enthusiastic.

(And I not at all secretly hope that Arcadi Volodos, who has spent many years in Spain, takes up this work because, well, because.) 

Nice review, todd!

[Franco_Manitobain]

Any recommendations for Granados piano music?

I see this set here, which seems to be a very good price at Presto right now.



Outside of this, it would be nice if Naxos considers a slim box set of the Douglas Riva piano music.  I think there is at least 10 volumes, but I could be slightly off.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Try other recordings. I personally recommend Luis Galve, Emili Brugalla, and the first Larrocha in the 1950s. Thomas Rajna is not bad.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

PS. Also 2nd Larrocha from EMI, not Decca.

[Florestan]

Any recommendations for Granados piano music?

I see this set here, which seems to be a very good price at Presto right now.



Outside of this, it would be nice if Naxos considers a slim box set of the Douglas Riva piano music.  I think there is at least 10 volumes, but I could be slightly off.

I don't have the Martin Jones set but it should be very good, he's ideally suited to the repertoire (I have his Albeniz and Turina selection sets).

I have the Riva et al. individual discs (seven) and the Thomas Rajna box on Brilliant (six discs) and I love them both.

[Franco_Manitobain]

Anyone familiar with this disc?  Recommendable?

[BWV 1080]

Nice guitar arrangement that popped up in my Facebook feed this morning

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Anyone familiar with this disc?  Recommendable?

I recommend it. However an equivalent album (and de Falla album) by Igor Markevitch should be acquired first imo.


https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nCL_gAmDFL9eu6vxq5j9jMau9ywaQyFSk

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nOl2v449FX-VOJbJ7ay_ozZg56wYMHrS0

[Brian]

The orchestrations by Rafael Ferrer are not really discussed in the booklet (nor is Ferrer, but Google tells me he was a violinist and sometime conductor who conducted some Spanish performances at the Eurovision Song Contest). To me they are charming and effective but not really essential - lots of percussion inserted to try to get the excitement level up. Brotons was not really in a hurry conducting (58:30; three minutes slower than de Larrocha's solo piano version on Decca and 6 minutes slower than Heisser's).

There are orchestrations of three of the dances, arranged and conducted by Igor Markevitch, in the Eloquence Big Box (available for download purchase separately). They're conducted with so much panache and energy I wish he had done the complete set. You can compare samples of him and Brotons in No. 9 and hear a big difference.
(EDIT: DBK beat me to it while I was typing!)

I love this music in many guises - my favorite Granados (call me simple but it's true  ). Did you buy the Barrueco box or was that JBS only? Because it looks like that has a two-guitar version. I love Stephen Marchionda's MDG guitar recital with 9 of the 12 dances, and Heisser's piano recording, still available in a $20 bargain box with a bunch of other fantastic performances.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Also this set. It's a mixed bag, but some interesting compositions. The orchestral performance is just fair.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The orchestrations by Rafael Ferrer are not really discussed in the booklet (nor is Ferrer, but Google tells me he was a violinist and sometime conductor who conducted some Spanish performances at the Eurovision Song Contest). To me they are charming and effective but not really essential - lots of percussion inserted to try to get the excitement level up. Brotons was not really in a hurry conducting (58:30; three minutes slower than de Larrocha's solo piano version on Decca and 6 minutes slower than Heisser's).

There are orchestrations of three of the dances, arranged and conducted by Igor Markevitch, in the Eloquence Big Box (available for download purchase separately). They're conducted with so much panache and energy I wish he had done the complete set. You can compare samples of him and Brotons in No. 9 and hear a big difference.
(EDIT: DBK beat me to it while I was typing!)

I love this music in many guises - my favorite Granados (call me simple but it's true  ). Did you buy the Barrueco box or was that JBS only? Because it looks like that has a two-guitar version. I love Stephen Marchionda's MDG guitar recital with 9 of the 12 dances, and Heisser's piano recording, still available in a $20 bargain box with a bunch of other fantastic performances.

I don't disagree with your opinion. But there is a supply, as well as demand, dimension. There are only few recordings of orchestral music of Granados.

[Franco_Manitobain]

Also this set. It's a mixed bag, but some interesting compositions. The orchestral performance is just fair.

I did have this on the wishlist.