Marianne Crebassa / Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse / Ben Glassberg SEGUEDILLES

 

SEGUEDILLES

Janine Jansen / Antonio Pappano 12 STRADIVARI

 

12 STRADIVARI

Anita Rachvelishvili ÉLÉGIE

 

ÉLÉGIE

 

Angela Hewitt LOVE SONGS

 

LOVE SONGS

 

Lise de la Salle WHEN DO WE DANCE?

 

WHEN DO WE DANCE?

Yeonsun Joo / Jay JungJae Moon ROMANTIQUE

 

ROMANTIQUE

 

Cameron Crozman / Philip Chiu TAPEO

 

TAPEO

 

Naoko Yoshino / Marie-Pierre Langlamet DANSES

 

DANSES

 

Teo Gheorghiu DUENDE

 

DUENDE

Jacob Kellermann JOAQUÍN RODRIGO Concierto de Aranjuez

 

CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ

Núria Rial / Edin Karamazov CON GUITARRA

 

CON GUITARRA

 

Cathal Breslin MIRAGE

 

MIRAGE

 

The Orchestra of the Americas / Carlos Miguel Prieto MANUEL DE FALLA The Three-Cornered Hat - Nights in the Gardens of Spain

THE THREE CORNERED HAT - NIGHTS IN THE GARDENS OF SPAIN

 

LES MUSIQUES DE PICASSO

LES MUSIQUES DE PICASSO

 

Andrew Blanch / Ariel Nurhadi ALCHEMY

ALCHEMY

 

Xuefei Yang HEARTSTRINGS

HEARTSTRINGS

Daniel Hope HOPE@HOME

HOPE@HOME

Estrella Morente / Javier Perianes MANUEL DE FALLA - FEDERICO GARCíA LORCA Encuentro

                                                                      ENCUENTRO

Tabea Zimmermann / Javier Perianes CANTILENA

                                                                    CANTILENA

Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Pablo Heras-Casado MANUEL DE FALLA El Sombrero de Tres Picos - El Amor Brujo

There is no shortage of recordings of Manuel de Falla's El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) and El amor brujo (Love, the Wizard), with more on the way, thanks to the centenary of the former in 2019. Even casual listeners may reflect that this delightful work has never, despite plenty of changes in taste in music of the interwar period, fallen out of style. It was on the cutting edge when it was premiered, and yet its fusion of flamenco influences with growing French neoclassicism is irresistible for general symphonic audiences. It's in this fusion that Pablo Heras-Casado inspires the multinational Mahler Chamber Orchestra to impressive heights. The ballet El sombrero de tres picos, with its humorous, Figaro-like pastoral story, and the ballet-opera El amor brujo are not exactly renderings of flamenco music in symphonic form, although they are often thought of that way, and although the desired vocal sound in each comes from that tradition. Instead, Falla uses the rhythms of flamenco to spice up the clean new sounds that were taking shape in France and that he learned there. The two pieces should not be fiery exercises in making the orchestra emulate a flamenco guitar, but rather something crisper. That's exactly what Heras-Casado delivers here. In both works he's a minute or so faster than average, and he loses none of the rhythmic energy at that speed. Soprano Marina Heredia is an ideal complement, offering a chamber-sized flamenco voice. A enjoyable reading of these well-worn works, enhanced by Teldex Studio sound that takes into account the performers' artistic aims. (James Manheim)