COMPOSERS: Rodrigo/Albeniz/Turina
LABELS: Decca Eclipse
WORKS: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un gentilhombre; Rapsodia española; Rapsodia sinfónica
PERFORMER: Carlos Bonell (guitar), Alicia de Larrocha (piano); Montreal SO/Charles Dutoit, LPO/Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
CATALOGUE NO: 448 243-2 DDD (1981/84)
This disc’s completely Spanish programme is a rare combination of repertoire for the guitar and for the piano. Rapsodia sinfónica by Turina (perhaps the least familiar composer here), is given a crisp, articulate performance by Carlos Bonell, who employs a wide range of timbres and achieves great clarity and brightness of tone. He is matched in this by Dutoit’s lightness of touch.
From the haunting opening of Albéniz’s Rapsodia española onwards, Alicia de Larrocha enters a world of rich, sonorous qualities. The reflective and brusque atmospheres of Spain are magically captured and are portrayed with fluidity, subtlety and precision. Fiona Harrison