Suite Española

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Music inspired by specific locations occupies an honored place in the classical repertory, and some pieces actually become informal "national anthems" of the countries they celebrate. There's Sibelius's Finlandia, and Smetana's cycle of tone poems called Ma Vlast ("My Fatherland"). In Spain, there's Albeniz's Iberia Suite. It was originally composed for piano, and no less a composer than Ravel wanted to orchestrate several of the pieces. He was disappointed to discover that the orchestral rights had been ceded by the composer to Enrique Arbos. "Who the hell is Arbos?" Ravel is reported to have said when he found out, and sure enough, the only thing Ardos is remembered for is his orchestration of Iberia. As you can hear for yourself on this fine disc, he did a very good job. --David Hurwitz

Albéniz:Iberia/Navarra/Suite Española, Music, Isaac Albeniz, Enrique Bátiz, State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Character/Single-Movement/Miscellaneous Work for Keyboard, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Keyboard, Suite/Partita for Keyboard

Albeniz: Iberia
Average customer rating:

Why buy this?

Great performance, poor mastering

Top notch piano playing of beautiful Spanish music.

Distortion

Marvellous music marvellously played

Albeniz: Iberia

Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pavanes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music
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The Essential Falla

ASIN: B000002S47
Release Date: 1992-08-18

Tracks:

Iberia: Primer cuaderno - Evocaci
Iberia: El Puerto
Iberia: Corpus Christi en Sevilla
Iberia: Segundo cuaderno - Ronde
Iberia: Almer
Iberia: Triana
Iberia: Tercer cuaderno - El Albaic
Iberia: El Polo
Iberia: Lavapies

Tracks:

Iberia: Cuarto cuaderno - Mga
Iberia: Jz
Iberia: Erita
Navarra
Suite espan Granada
Suite espan Catalu
Suite espan Sevilla
Suite espan Cz
Suite espan Arag
Pavana - capricho
Tango
Rumores de la caleta
Puerta de Tierra

Customer Reviews:

Why buy this?.......2006-06-16

I wouldn't buy a CD with serious sound issues as more than one reviewer said. Also, the Suite Espanola is incomplete and is missing 3 pieces including Asturias, one of my favorites.

Great performance, poor mastering.......2005-11-10

I concur with the other review that this album has some serious sound quality problem. It is different from the problems of historical recordings. Some tracks sounds absolutely wonderful while some other tracks (first few in CD 1) have a very pronounced hissing noise, still more tracks have a shifted balance. EMI really could have done a better job remastering this recording for CD release, and I hope they do in the future for this is absolutely one of the best in terms of performance.

Top notch piano playing of beautiful Spanish music........2005-09-22

This recording is of truly top notch piano playing which undeniably surpasses either of Larrocha's other two recordings of Iberia because of it's supreame technical mastery, rhythmic vitality and corloristic wizardry and ease of these fiendishly difficult, yet beautiful works. Complaints about sound quality in this recording are irrelevant, especially since it is not that pronounced. Besides, one who listens to the great recordings of Cortot, Rachmaninov, Hoffman, etc. knows the value of the actual performance over the sound quality.

Distortion.......2005-09-07

I wish I could recommend this disc more highly, but I have tried 3 copies, all of which had serious distortion on disc 1 at medium to high volume. This performance was originally recorded for Spanish Hispavox and released in the US on Columbia. The LPs had problematic sound, but I hoped this would be cleaned up on the CD. I actually prefer this performance of Iberia to the later one on Decca, although that one is also up to DeLarrocha's high standard. Maybe I've just had bad luck with copies (though 3 bad ones seems pretty odd).

Marvellous music marvellously played.......2000-11-23

This is music which many people may recognise but not have been able to identify. It's the best of Spanish piano music - dramatic and lyrical, deeply romantic and full of complex iberian dance rhythms. Alicia de Larrocha gives it all the colour and excitement it deserves in a bravura performance. I found the 2-disc set, of music half of which was familiar from childhood, but some which I hadn't heard before, deeply mesmerizing.

Average customer rating:

Piano Fantasy: Music for Two Pianos

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Release Date: 2003-10-14

Average customer rating:

Rubinstein's Love Affair with Spain
Rubinstein Topples de Larrocha
Rubinstein "Speaks" Spanish Without an Accent

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 18

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000031WBO
Release Date: 2000-10-10

Tracks:

Andaluza: Danza espanola No. 5 In E Minor
The Three-Cornered Hat: Miller's Dance
Cordoba, Op. 232, No. 4
Goyescas, No. 4: The Maiden And The Nightingale
Cancon i dansa No. I
Pieces espagnoles, No. 4: Andaluza
Iberia, No. I: Evocacion
Navarra (Completed By Severac)
Suite espanola, No. 3: Sevillanas
El Amor Brujo: Dance Of Terror
Cancon i dansa No. 6
Nights in the Gardens of Spain: En el Generalife
Nights in the Gardens of Spain: Danza lejana
Nights in the Gardens of Spain: En los jardines de la Sierra de Cordoba
El Amor Brujo: Ritual Fire Dance

Customer Reviews:

Rubinstein's Love Affair with Spain.......2006-09-06

Arthur Rubinstein was from the earliest days of his long fabled career a proponent of the music of Spain. Whether in that extraordinary follow-up to the protean display pieces of Liszt, Albeniz's Iberia, or the memorable lyrical passages of the ill-fated Granados, Rubinstein's way with this music stood out in that bygone era of legendary virtuosi. (Of note - Granados tragically was killed trying in vain to rescue his wife following a U-boat attack on their return to Barcelona following the succesful 1916 Met premiere of his opera Goyescas. His success was so great in America he even played at the White House for President Wilson. The CD has one selection from Goyescas, the famous "The Maiden and the Nightingale" in a wonderfully evocative performance by Rubinstein.)
At the same time as the Goyescas' Met premiere the young Artur Rubinstein was traveling across the breadth of the Iberian peninsula, giving over a hundred concerts between 1916 and 1917. Rubinstein became friends with the Albeniz family. (The composer had died in 1909.) He became a huge public favorite and was feted far and wide in Spain, including by the Spanish Royal family. Throughout his life he kept a home in Spain in that extraodinary Costa del Sol cityscape that is Marbella. Rubinstein's appreciation for Spain and Spanish music was unparalled among any other non-Spanish performers of the last century.
This selection was made according to the back cover between 1947 and 1955, but actually, as one reviewer correctly noted, the earliest recording, Navarra from Iberia, was made earlier, in June of 1941. The remainder are from 1947 or later. The performance of the delightful Spanish piano concerto, De Falla's Noches en los Jardins de Espana, captures Rubinstein at the peak of his career - his later stereo performance lacks the froth, sparkle and genuine magic given off in this version. The piano sounds wonderful and has been superbly restored in this issue. The only downside to this CD is that it represents most of the Spanish music Rubinstein recorded.
If you thought Rubinstein simply meant Chopin then this CD will certainly be a revelation. Some of the greatest Spanish piano music played by one of its greatest interpretators. Highest possible recomendation!
P.S. When a customer searches for this title why does Amazon insist on listing an old no longer available CD of this RCA CD and not this much more recent and in stock remastering? This version has a drawing of Rubinstein by Picasso.

Rubinstein Topples de Larrocha.......2001-02-10

Dear Readers, Rubinstein does not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with de Larrocha. The fact is that he "LOVED" Spanish music and de Larrocha made her career on it. It's very beautiful what she does, but Rubinstein goes to the heart everytime. You'll get a glimpse of this if you compare the two. They are in very different zones.

Rubinstein "Speaks" Spanish Without an Accent.......2001-01-02

After Alicia De Larrocha, Arthur Rubinstein was the 20th century's greatest exponent of Spanish piano music. On his first tour of Spain, in 1915, the Polish pianist fell in love with the country--its food, wine, women, and music. The love was mutual. Spain took Rubinstein to heart and became friends with some of the composers featured on this CD. Critical reactions to Rubinstein's performances of Spanish music were ecstatic--many musicians remakring that he played Spanish music "without an accent," i.e., like a born Spaniard.

The performances on this CD were recorded from 1941-1955. Every track on this disc demonstrates what the critics in Spain were writing at the time, Rubinstein had a natural feel for this repertoire that defies born nationality. Particularly effective are the Albeniz and Falla selections.

It is a pity that Rubinstein was not persuaded to re-record all of these works in stereo (there are stereo versions of Falla's Fire Dance, Nights in the Gardens of Spain, and Albeniz' Navarra), as there are those closed-minded individuals who will refuse to buy this CD simply because the recordings featured on it are monaural. The loss is theirs.

Tracks:

La vida breve: Spanish Dance No.1
La vida breve: Spanish Dance No.2
El amor brujo: Ritual Fire Dance
Andalucia: Malaguena
Suite expanola, Op.47: Sevilla (Sevillanas)
Suite expanola, Op.47: Cadiz (Cancion)
Suite expanola, Op.47: Aragon (Fantasia)
Suite expanola, Op.47: Castilla (Seguidillas)
Pavana-Capricho, Op.12
Suite Iberia: Triana
Navarra
Danses andalouses: Ritmo
Danses andalouses: Sentimiento
Danses andalouses: Gracia (El vito)

Customer Reviews:

The Amazing Sisters.......2003-01-27

Katia & Marielle Lebeque know what they do. They have the fire of their latin origin and the knowledge of the instrument. But most of all, they deliver their performance with class. El amor brujo is perfect, Albeniz's Suite espanola and Suite Iberia, and Infante's Danses andalouses are a lesson of style. And Lecuona rises to the level of a true classic in their hands. Katia's articulation is well known as well as Marielle's respect for the details. Here, those qualities are at its best. Iam Cuban, borned of Spanish parents and raised in Andalucía and Havana. Take my advice: Buy this CD!

LABEQUE SISTERS ON COVER OF CD WORTH PRICE.......2002-10-20

Katie & Marielle Lebeque do Falla, Albeniz, Lecuona, and Infante with French precision. I especially liked Falla's El amor brujo, Albeniz's Suite espanola and Suite Iberia, and Infante's Danses andalouses. The piano duo do justice to Iberian music. Ritual Fire Dance has had imitators not as good.

Average customer rating:

One of the greatest.
Absolutely the Best Available!

Iberia / Navarra / Suite Espanola
Albeniz , and De Larrocha
Manufacturer: Polygram Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000041T4
Release Date: 1988-02-19

Tracks:

Iberia - Book 1 - Evocaci
Iberia - Book 1 - El Puerto
Iberia - Book 1 - Fe - Dieu Seville
Iberia - Book 2 - Rondena
Iberia - Book 2 - Almeria
Iberia - Book 2 - Triana
Iberia - Book 3 - El Albaicin
Iberia - Book 3 - El Polo
Iberia - Book 3 - Lavapies
Iberia - Book 4 - Malaga
Iberia - Book 4 - Jerez
Iberia - Book 4 - Eritana
Navarra
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Granada (Serenata)
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Catalu (Corranda)
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Sevilla (Sevillanas)
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Ciz (Canci) (Op. 181)
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Asturias (Leyenda) (Op. 232/1)
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Arag (Fantasia) (Op. 164/1)
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Cuba (Capricho)
Suite Espala, Op.47 - Castilla (Seguidillas) (Op. 232/5)

Customer Reviews:

One of the greatest........2005-10-21

As you can read in the other review, Alicia de Larrocha has recorded at least three times this piece, Albeniz's masterwork and one of the pinnacles of XXth Century music for piano. This is the last recording she has done and, in my opinion, the of all. I really thought Larrocha was going to record the cycle again for RCA, as she was re-recording many of her best-known piano pieces, but finally she had enough with this last DDD recording for Decca, which she hardly could make better. Some of the RCA recordings from the last decade show how De Larrocha is not able to play so strongly and so vivid like in this Decca recordings, which are the top of his career as concert player. The vision of her playing in the last decades, and I can include this Albeniz's recoding, is a really mature understanding of the scores and of the music's sense, very close to Larrocha in personality and soul, like Granados is too.

Her playing in pieces like Evocation is full of mistery and mood, a really window to look into a world she is going to recreate in the next pieces, like the marvellous El Corpus Christi en Sevilla, in which Larrocha sings the Spanish popular tune "La Tarara" of the melody with her hands better than any other player, like if she were going to her childhood again.

Some people prefer the most fresh, hard and vivid interpretation recorded by EMI, or even the first ADD recording for Decca, but I can say that the poetry, knowledge and understanding of the work is on her top in this recording. You have great technique, marvellous rubato, outstanding draw of the melodies, the better control of silence and echoes played any time by Larrocha... A version of a person who can look back to decades of performing this music and think about it.

Four years ago I was talking about her Iberia's recording with the own Alicia de Larrocha in my town, Santiago de Compostela, where she was on charge of some music lessons and she told to me he really was very proud of this final recording because of many of the reasons I have written here; that was one of the reasons to think about this performing as a final result, as the mature fruit result of a very long journey. The own Krystian Zimerman was asked to record this music but he said it was very hard to say anything new in Iberia after Larrocha versions; in fact he said he used to call Larrocha when he played it with his pupils asking for some technical or musical explanations. Of course I'd like to listen this wonderful work on Zimerman's hands, but I agree with him about Larrocha authority on this work.

As a master work, Iberia's visions are not complete in one recording and you can have some other versions really outstanding, in my opinion those from Esteban Sánchez (Ensayo or Brilliant, it's the same recording, but much more cheap and with many other works in Brilliant) and from Daniel Barenboim (Teldec -recorded on studio- & EuroArts -Live from the Teatro Colón in Argentina, on his 50th anniversary concert-). Sánchez is the most racial and spanish player I've listened, full of energy and power, a really experience of energy; very great technically but not so poet like Larrocha. The own Barenboim was astonishing by Sánchez playing on Albeniz's Works. Barenboim, finally, is a more international point of view on the work, quiet impressionist, like an Albéniz viewed from Debussy's eyes. His playing could be the most technical and the most "classical", but the results are really wonderful too. I really recommend those three versions, with no doubt.
The rest of the pieces are equally performed with Larrocha understanding of the works, a prodigy of the Spanish music made sound.

Absolutely the Best Available!.......2004-11-27

Alicia de Larrocha recorded, as far as I know, Isaac Albéniz's 'Iberia' three times. This is the third of those recordings and the only one in digital sound. And frankly it supersedes the previous recordings whether or not it happens to be in modern sound. Larrocha has lived with these wonderful pieces for a lifetime--she is surely the greatest exponent of Spanish piano music over the last several decades, perhaps ever--and there are subtleties and insights in this performance when compared to the earlier traversals. The music itself is the pinnacle of Albéniz's career, written in the final years of his too-short life--he died at only 49--and when compared to earlier music, such as his 'Suite española,' (included here, along with 'Navarra') it is obvious that he continued developing as a composer right up to the end.

Larrocha in general does not forget that the underlying impulses in these pieces are dance rhythms. Even in 'Jerez', with its mystery and hypnotic repeated figures, one feels this sensuous pulse throughout. Other interpreters are seduced by the languor of the Spanish atmosphere and tend to linger too much, but Larrocha plays them rather more pointedly than most, and thus more excitingly. In 'Eritana' her clarity and élan vital are dual enticements; this is the best version of this piece I've heard and I well remember my excited response to it when I heard her play it in recital more than thirty years ago. 'Málaga' and 'Lavapies' are equally invigorating.

Many years ago de Larrocha confessed that she felt intimidated by the studio recording process and felt back then that she was not able to give her best in that setting. Obviously by the time of this recording, this shyness had given way to complete ease and total mastery. If you have to have only one recording of the piano version of 'Ibéria,' this is the one to have. A welcome companion, featuring Arbos's and Surinach's orchestrations of the set, is a 1998 recording by Jesús Lopez-Cobos leading an exciting performance by the Cincinnati Symphony on Telarc.

Strongly recommended.

Scott Morrison

Average customer rating:

For a collector of Franck's Sonata in A - this is a Must Hav
2/3 of the Million Dollar Trio

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 7

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005426Z
Release Date: 2001-03-06

Tracks:

Son in A: Allegro Bene Moderato - Arthur Rubinstein/Jascha Heifetz
Son in A: Allegro - Arthur Rubinstein/Jascha Heifetz
Son in A: Recitativo - Fantasia - Arthur Rubinstein/Jascha Heifetz
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Nocturne No.3 in A flat, Op.33
3 Movts Perpetuels
Napoli Ste: Barcarolle
Napoli Ste: Nocturne
Napoli Ste: Caprice Italienne
Cordoba, Op.232 No.4
Sevillanas (Ste Espanola No.3)
Evocacion (Iberia No.1)
Triana (Iberia, No.6)
Navarra

Customer Reviews:

For a collector of Franck's Sonata in A - this is a Must Hav.......2003-01-28

This version w Rubinstein and Heifetz is absolutely beautiful, it brings one to tears. I have an LP of the Ax/Perlman version and a CD of the version by Licad/Sonnenberg. I heard the LaBeque sisters have a version for 2 pianos and I think there's one for violin & viola. I'm looking, I'm looking - for now let me wallow in this one! Bliss immeasurable!!!! - Evic846

2/3 of the Million Dollar Trio.......2001-03-13

One of the most remarkable facets of Arthur Rubinstein's musicianship was his ability to work with nearly anybody. Nowhere is this more evident than in his recordings with Jascha Heifetz. The pianist and violinist reportedly disliked each other--Rubinstein issues scorching criticism of Heifetz as a musician and as a human being in his autobiography, My Many Years--yet they obtained excellent results in their recordings together. (In performances with the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, they were sometimes referred to as The Million Dollar Trio--a moniker Rubinstein regarded with contempt.)

Their version Franck Sonata has been a classic of the gramophone since it was issued in 1937. There is an element of competitiveness here, yet also underlying agreement as to the nature of the music. Heifetz' technical control is, of course, astonishing, but so is his phrasing and nuance.

Rubinstein knew Poulenc and ALbeniz personally--and his playing is appropriately authoritative. This 1938 performance of Poulenc's Mouvements perpetuels makes for fascinating comparison with his 1963 version. There is remarkably little change in phrasing between the two recordings, but tempos in the earlier version are noticably brisker. Did Rubinstein rush the piece to fit it onto one 78-RPM side? The performance of Poulenc's Napoli Suite is from 1947--the piece appeared in Rubinstein's repertoire only infrequently and this is his only recording of it.

Rubinstein became a specialist in Spanish music after he first fell in love with that country while on tour there in 1915. The performances here of Albeniz' music sparkle and remain a joy to hear. Cordoba and Navarra (the latter a frequent Rubinstein encore) are stunning examples of Rubinstein's early devil-may-care virtuosity.

A word about the recorded sound: Those considering this CD should not be discouraged by the recording dates (1929-1947). RCA has done an excellent job restoring the sound, disc noise is remarkably unobtrusive, and the high frequencies have not been overly filtered. The piano sound has body, presence, and gives a more accurate portrayal of Rubinstein's sound than many later recordings.

Albéniz:Iberia/Navarra/Suite Española
Average customer rating:

Excellent Recordings of Albeniz Orchestral Music

Albéniz:Iberia/Navarra/Suite Española

Manufacturer: Asv Living Era
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Character Pieces | Short Forms | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
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Albeniz: Iberia

Golijov: Yiddishbbuk

ASIN: B0000030UN
Release Date: 1994-08-23

Tracks:

Iberia: No. 1: Evocacion
Iberia: No. 2: El Corpus en Sevilla
Iberia: No. 3: Triana
Iberia: No. 4: El Puerto
Iberia: No. 5: El Albaicin
Navarra
Suite espanola: No. 1: Granada (Serenata)
Suite espanola: No. 2: Catalu a (Corranda)
Suite espanola: No. 3: Sevilla (Sevillanas)
Suite espanola: No. 4: Cadiz (Saeta)
Suite espanola: No. 5: Asturias (Leyenda)
Suite espanola: No. 6: Arag n (Fantasia)
Suite espanola: No. 7: Castilla (Seguidillas)
Suite espanola: No. 8: C rdoba (from Cantos de Espa a, Op. 232)

Amazon.com

Music inspired by specific locations occupies an honored place in the classical repertory, and some pieces actually become informal "national anthems" of the countries they celebrate. There's Sibelius's Finlandia, and Smetana's cycle of tone poems called Ma Vlast ("My Fatherland"). In Spain, there's Albeniz's Iberia Suite. It was originally composed for piano, and no less a composer than Ravel wanted to orchestrate several of the pieces. He was disappointed to discover that the orchestral rights had been ceded by the composer to Enrique Arbos. "Who the hell is Arbos?" Ravel is reported to have said when he found out, and sure enough, the only thing Ardos is remembered for is his orchestration of Iberia. As you can hear for yourself on this fine disc, he did a very good job. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Recordings of Albeniz Orchestral Music.......2006-07-07

The music featured on this CD was all originally written for piano and later orchestrated by Spanish conductor Arbos. (The Amazon review provides backround). Since Albeniz was aiming to portray pictures through the medium of sound (the piano), the orchestrated versions are even more successful in this endeavor. All of the music captures a genuinely "Spanish" sound, representative of different Spanish locations. The CD features what is apparently one of the only complete orchestrations of the Spanish Suite.
Enrique Batiz's colorful interpretations are very enjoyable to listen to and his Mexican orchestra clearly knows this music well and plays it to perfection. The sound quality is literally some of the best sound I have ever heard on CD: vivid, detailed, with dynamic range, delivering enormous impact in climaxes. Particularly noteworthy is the bass drum (listen to track 11), which sounds like it's being played in the room with you!
All in all, this CD is easily recommendable to anyone who enjoys colorful or exotic music, as well as for fans of the piano originals of Iberia and the Spanish Suite. Enjoy!