Albeniz Concierto fantastico

[JimL]

I'm looking over the score right now from IMSLP.  Apparently the movement listing is a little different from the download:

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Reverie et Scherzo: Andante - Presto
3. Allegro

There seem to be several episodes in different tempi in each movement.  The key of the work is A minor. 

Thanks, Dave.  I've wanted this work for years.

[semloh]

Thank you, Amphissa, for giving us this concerto! 

It used to be available on a Turnabout LP, which my wife and I bought in England when we first got engaged, some 40 years ago. We loved its dramatic orchestral opening and the flow into that gentle romantic piano section. It's available on CD of course, but the version I have (ValenciaSO/Galduf) is too slow for my taste, with that beautiful melody (after c. 4.00 mins) for solo piano brought almost to a standstill. In any case, nothing quite has the same significance for me as that old LP version! 

What a pity that the 2nd Piano Concerto was unfinished! I wonder in what state it was left and whether there is enough for it ever to be finished/reconstructed (though I know not everyone approves of such things!).

[TerraEpon]

There's a couple of readily available discs with the piece:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/albumList.jsp?name_id1=138&name_role1=1&comp_id=22730&bcorder=15

[JimL]

Didn't de Laroccha record it for EMI (London) on LP decades ago?

[semloh]

Didn't de Laroccha record it for EMI (London) on LP decades ago?

Sounds familiar, Jim, but according to her discography at
http://larrocha-discography.blogspot.com.au/p/composer-index.html
... she hasn't recorded the concerto 

My Turnabout LP (nowadays readily available through e-bay) has Felicja Blumental as soloist.

I've had no success trying to find out about the 2nd PC.

[Amphissa]

My primary computer is out of operation right now as I put it through major upgrades, so I don't have access to my music collection. Not sure what else I've got by Albeniz that is suitable for upload. I'll get back to it next week.

[X. Trapnel]

The Blumenthal recording is paired with the Tavares on CD

[febnyc]

The Albéniz Concierto Fantastico is a fantastic concerto.  It might be included in the Rachmaninoffian-like discussion, except that after a while it sounds more Brahmsian.  At any rate it should not be missed.

I have the Tavares/Albéniz CD (Blumenthal) and it is a stunner.

[TerraEpon]

Didn't de Laroccha record it for EMI (London) on LP decades ago?

You're probably thinking of Rapsodia Espanola

[JimL]

Brahmsian?  Oh, heavens, no!  Well, OK, maybe in technical aspects of the piano writing and some of the orchestration.  The main thing that came to mind for me was the relationship between the themes in the different movements.  I need to give it a few more listens, but I believe this is a spectacular example of Lisztian cyclic thematic transformation.  Certainly the opening gesture returns at the beginning of the finale, but I believe the main theme of the finale is also a rhythmically transformed version of the more lyrical first movement material.

[Lionel Harrsion]

Brahmsian?  Oh, heavens, no!

Well I agree with that for sure, Jim.  I admit to not knowing the music of Albeniz in depth; as a student, I used to play Triana and some of the Cantos de Espana (until I heard Alicia de Larrocha play them, which confronted me with my limitations as a pianist!) but I found this Concerto really interesting.  It's charming, of course but it doesn't have the depth and spirituality (nor the delicacy) of his Albeniz's later works.  The thematic passage-work in the first movement reminds me of no-one so much as the Chopin of the early concerted pieces (the Variations on La ci darem la mano, the Fantasia on Polish Airs and the op 14 Krakoviak Concert Rondo).  It's none the worse for that, of course, but if I'd listened to it blind I very much doubt whether I'd have guessed the composer.

[JimL]

I remember reading liner notes of one of those old LPs that said that the typical Spanish exoticism of Albeniz' later works is somehow lacking in this one.  I beg to differ somewhat.  I find it almost immediately in the modal and rhythmic flavor of the opening statement, and particularly in the repeated note figuration of the second subject.  Although 'Chopinesque' does more accurately describe the piano writing, certainly moreso than 'Brahmsian' or 'Lisztian'.  The thematic transformation is still reminiscent of Liszt, however.

[Lionel Harrsion]

The thematic transformation is still reminiscent of Liszt, however.

Oh yes, I totally agree with that.  I also agree that there is a Spanish flavour to it but maybe it's just not as 'picante' as in the later works!

[JimL]

...I found this Concerto really interesting.  It's charming, of course but it doesn't have the depth and spirituality (nor the delicacy) of his Albeniz's later works.  The thematic passage-work in the first movement reminds me of no-one so much as the Chopin of the early concerted pieces (the Variations on La ci darem la mano, the Fantasia on Polish Airs and the op 14 Krakoviak Concert Rondo).  It's none the worse for that, of course, but if I'd listened to it blind I very much doubt whether I'd have guessed the composer.

Concertos in this period weren't particularly noted for depth and spirituality.  They were, as it were, more 'fun' works.  Even the drama was more extroverted, somehow.  Depth and spirituality were plumbed more in symphonies/orchestral works and solo piano/chamber music.  That is why so many concertos from the middle-late 19th Century are such wild romps (including this one).  The social conventions for the concerto were different.

[Lionel Harrsion]

Very true, Jim.  Maybe I was just expecting it to sound a bit more like Albeniz than it actually does.