Albéniz - Iberia - Hyperion: CDA67476-7 - 2 CDs or download

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Hamelin again achieves the almost physically impossible with seeming ease. Albéniz's multiple layers are finely balanced, and apparently awkward textures come to life in a lucid acoustic with... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2005, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th Mar 2005
Catalogue No: CDA67476-7
Label: Hyperion
Length: 2 hours 5 minutes

BBC Music Magazine

May 2005

Instrumental Choice
Gramophone Magazine

June 2005

Editor's Choice

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Albéniz: Iberia, books 1-4

Work length1:22:07

$13.20

$18.00

$21.60

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

Book 1 No 1. Evocación

Track length6:26

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Book 1 No 2. El puerto

Track length3:57

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Book 1 No 3. El Corpus en Sevilla

Track length8:19

$1.10

$1.50

$2.30

Book 2 No 1. Rondeña

Track length6:39

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Book 2 No 2. Almería

Track length10:50

$1.10

$1.50

$2.30

Book 2 No 3. Triana

Track length5:08

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Book 3 No 1. El Albaicín

Track length7:27

$1.10

$1.50

$2.30

Book 3 No 2. El polo

Track length6:47

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Book 3 No 3. Lavapiés

Track length6:20

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Book 4 No 1. Málaga

Track length5:01

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Book 4 No 2. Jerez

Track length9:59

$1.10

$1.50

$2.30

Book 4 No 3. Eritaña

Track length5:14

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Albéniz: La Vega from the suite Alhambra

Work length16:05

$1.10

$1.50

Album only

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

Albéniz: Yvonne en visite!

Work length6:30

$2.20

$3.00

$3.10

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

I. La révérence!

Track length1:53

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

II. Joyeuse rencontre et quelques pénibles événements!

Track length4:37

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Albéniz: Espagne

Work length12:21

$2.20

$3.00

$3.85

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

I. Preludio

Track length8:46

$1.10

$1.50

$2.30

II. Asturias

Track length3:35

$1.10

$1.50

$1.55

Isaac Albéniz; William Bolcom: Navarra

Work length8:40

$1.10

$1.50

$2.30

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

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About

The twelve extended pieces which make up Albeniz Iberia are not only the composers greatest work, but also the greatest piano work to come out of Spain. Fired by his discovery of the music of Ravel and Debussy, Albeniz transformed his earlier salon style, which essentially produced charming but slight picture postcards of Spain, into a language which was much more complexharmonically, texturally and pianisticallyand which created a series of tone poems which capture the spiritual essence of Spain. The superabundance of the writing also makes the cycle one of the supreme virtuoso challenges, so who better to realize the beauty beyond the notes than Marc-Andre Hamelin who reveals here that the previous virtual monopoly of this work by Spanish pianists may have done more harm than good. The couplings here are also particularly appropriate in that we have a complete survey of all Albeniz late piano music from 1897 until his death. La vega and Espana are clearly precursors of Iberia; they came after a five year gap in piano output and are the first works to show the composers new style. Yvonne en visite!, in perhaps its first recording, is a charming and humorous work illustrating a childs reluctant piano playing. The collection closes with a new completion by William Bolcom of the unfinished Navarra, which probably reveals much more of Albeniz original intention than the perfunctory ending by de Severac hitherto used.

Reviews

May 2005

Hamelin again achieves the almost physically impossible with seeming ease. Albéniz's multiple layers are finely balanced, and apparently awkward textures come to life in a lucid acoustic with pace, grace and a constant sense of dance.

4th July 2005

the over-riding impression you're left with is not of breathtaking virtuosity, but of extraordinary subtlety, a range of colours and delicately deployed effects that heightens the introspective imagination of the writing...I can't imagine how this two disc set could be improved, unless it came with two free plane tickets to Seville…

2010

Here's the most immaculate, effortless and refined of all Iberias. Where others fight to stay afloat, Marc-André Hamelin rides the crest of every formidable wave with nonchalant ease and poetry. Did Albéniz, as Rubinstein once claimed, need a helping hand in Iberia, simplifying textures for greater clarity, brilliance and accessibility? Hamelin's musical grace mocks the very question. His 'Evocación', audaciously free and perfumed, makes you hang on every note, and although characteristically cool, elegant and supple, he's true to the heart of Albéniz's incomparable tapestry of southern Spain. Try 'Almeria' and you'll hear playing of jewelled perfection, a mesmerising dreamworld rudely interrupted by 'Lavapiés', where every one of the composer's torrents of notes is made crystal clear.
Again, when has 'Málaga' been played with greater fluency and imaginative delicacy? Perhaps such playing is a compensation for Rubinstein's legendary but never recorded performance.
Certainly in its suppleness and transparency it has a Chopinesque rather than Lisztian bias, but Hamelin gives us all the notes and he's recorded in sound as natural and refined as his playing.
After Iberia there's La Vega, inspired by the plains surrounding Granada, by a 'land of flowers and sapphire skies'. This surely ranks among the greatest recordings of a Spanish piano work.
Limpid, haunting and evocative, it resolves every complexity in rapt poetry. For added measure he gives us 'Yvonne en visite', a hilarious imitation of a pianist who stumbles from note to note, tenacious but incompetent. Finally, there is 'Navarra', complete with William Bolcom's coda, a lengthy and witty résumé and cadenza rather than de Sévérac's brief conclu- Alain Instrumental 15 sion. Comparison with Larrocha's benchmark Albéniz is inevitable. But Hamelin's is radically different in both execution and character, and she, for all her magisterial command, is no match for him in musical grace and fluency.
Hamelin's Albéniz proudly but nonchalantly raises a new and astonishing standard.

June 2010

...technically nonchalant and textually astute...Hamelin's crisp, witty turn of phrase conjures up castanets and rioja

Simply put, this is now the recording of choice.

Albéniz - Iberia

2 CDs

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