An Uneven Falla Collection from Brilliant Classics

courtesy of Naxos of America

A little over a month ago, Brilliant Classics released its latest budget-priced anthology of a single composer. The composer is Manuel de Falla, and the anthology consists of five CDs. These include complete accounts of music composed for three staged performances, La vida breve, an opera in two acts, the one-act ballet “El amor brujo” (love, the magician), and the one-act puppet opera “El retablo de maese Pedro” (Master Peter’s puppet show). Sadly, what is missing is a complete account of The Three-Cornered Hat, the two-act ballet created by Léonide Massine on a commission by Sergei Diaghilev. This is a farcical ballet with music that is as funny as the choreography.

There is an almost complete account of the piano music. This was not Falla’s “strong suit;” but two of the compositions were dedicated to serious pianists that provided debut performances. The earlier of these was a collection of four “Spanish pieces” dedicated to Falla’s most distinctive predecessor, Isaac Albéniz. The other, “Fantasía Bética,” was written for Arthur Rubinstein, an evocation of the early Roman times in a region of the Iberian peninsula that is now Andalusia. The other major piano offering is the three-movement suite Nights in the Gardens of Spain, scored for piano and full orchestra.

Of greater interest (at least in my opinion) is the harpsichord concerto that Falla wrote for Wanda Landowska. The harpsichord is accompanied by a chamber ensemble, consisting of flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, and cello. The blend of those instruments places the harpsichord in a setting that oscillates between consonance and dissonance. I have been hooked on this music since I first encountered it in my undergraduate years.

What struck me as perplexing was the absence of the original version of the Siete canciones populares españolas (seven Spanish folk songs), originally scored for voice and piano. This is given one arrangement with orchestral accompaniment provided by Luciano Berio and a second version for cello and piano, whose arranger is not named but is probably Maurice Maréchal. Even more confusing is the Homenajes (homages) suite, which was composed for full orchestra but is listed as having been arranged by “G. Pekkera.”

I have now had enough experience with Brilliant to put expectations aside and take what I can get; and, in that context, there are any number of satisfying reasons for listening to all of the performances on the five CDs of this recent release.