Albeniz, I.: Iberia, Books 1-4 (Isaac Albeniz)

Chronique

Often excerpted, Isaac Albéniz's Iberia was conceived as a set and performed that way in its first incarnation. A complete performance extends well onto two CDs but reveals much to a consistent interpretation and presentation. This live performance by pianist Rosa Torres-Pardo, recorded in the composer's home city of Camprodón in Catalonia, is certainly consistent if unconventional. Tempos are quite slow, and the music's Impressionist elements are given pride of place over its flamenco rhythms. This is Spain viewed nostalgically through an exile's lens, not the vigorous festival of guitar sounds transferred to the piano that one hears in the standard performances by Alicia de Larrocha. A unique feature of the recording, hard to distinguish on the cover in the scrawl associated with the abstract art of the packaging, is the inclusion, at the end of disc two, of alternate versions of five pieces played on Albéniz's own piano. This might seem an unacceptable extension of the historical-performance idea into the twentieth century, but it fits with Torres-Pardo's overall concept: it's a smaller (at least in sound), more intimate instrument than the mighty Steinways on which Iberia is usually played, and it extends the reflective mood. An unusual recording that brings to mind nocturnal Spanish cityscapes.
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