IBERIA

[isokani]

Hi all.
I just played Iberia earlier this evening, and I have been wondering about a couple of performers who played this piece.

Yvonne Loriod recorded the work and it was reissued in a very small run on CD, now long out of print. Does anyone know where I can get one? What is it like? Etc etc.

The also late and very great Yonty Solomon did a BBC radio broadcast in the 1970s. Did anyone record this? And can they make me a copy? Would LOVE to hear this... such clarity, bel canto and seductive sound in his other playing I've heard.

AND could anyone else recommend anyone else?

I like Orozco and Sanchez (and Delarocha of course) ...

Thanks very much

[alfor]

I can recommend the LP recording by

LEOPOLDO QUEROL

Do you know it? Would you like me to post it?

All best

alfor

[isokani]

Alfor, I would like that indeed.
Thanks
J

[alfor]

Alfor, I would like that indeed.
Thanks
J

Ok. Will post it this week.

Quite interesting to compare recordings with the score in front of your eyes. Compared "El Polo" and "Lavapies" with several performers (not youtube, but LP recordings from my own collection). Although - like virtually all performers** - he takes considerable liberties, Querol most impressively brings out the "narcotic" quality of "El Polo" and his reading of the Coda of "Lavapies" equals the ingenuity of this part of the composition.

I wished Wilhelm Kempff would have played Iberia. Or I could have attended performances by Eduard Erdmann or Gieseking.

P.S. Also really good is Arrau's recording of book 1 & 2!

**Did not yet hear a certain J.P., though.

[alfor]

Dear isokani, I am feeling a bit uncertain, now that I know you will become "Dr. P.": Does that make you an "academic" pianist ?

While I am busy transferring Querol to my harddisc, here are two pieces from Iberia with Yvonne Loriod (plus a couple Messiaen):
http://muzon.fm/?q=Yvonne+Loriod

[alfor]

Leopoldo QUEROL (Spanish pianist, 1899-1985; http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biograf ... opoldo.htm)
Claudio ARRAU
Albeniz Iberia book I
Both from original LP recordings.
http://www.mediafire.com/?evnxyicab22xak1
http://www.mediafire.com/?pah1h65thoz8d3h

More to come.

[isokani]

Just listening to Querol now. Many many thanks!

[alfor]

Just listening to Querol now. Many many thanks!

You are welcome!
Hope to post books 2-4 (incl. Navarra) today.

I do also have very rare LP recordings with QUEROL of

DE FALLA (Fantasia baetica etc.)
and
GRANADOS (Goyescas)

Interested??

[isokani]

well, what a great offer... I used to play Goyescas complete quite a lot a few years ago, recorded it, but the recording disappeared somehow.
Do you know the year of Querol's Iberia recording, by the way?
I note that he plays with a quite rigorous attitude to the metre and tempo (without much fluctuation), and we learn that Albeniz played it (sometimes, at any rate) like that from contemporary accounts.

[alfor]

...Do you know the year of Querol's Iberia recording, by the way?
I note that he plays with a quite rigorous attitude to the metre and tempo (without much fluctuation), and we learn that Albeniz played it (sometimes, at any rate) like that from contemporary accounts.

I cannot tell exactly, but I would guess that the recording was made in the mid-1950s.
Yes, he handles the written score quite freely in some respect. But there is a true "spanish spirit" and many great moments (for example the coda of "Lavapies"). So although not a "model performance", it is worth listening to, imho (I do not know of any recording of Iberia which I would like to call a "model performance", though).

Leopoldo QUEROL
Albeniz Iberia books 2-4 (incl. Navarra)
http://www.mediafire.com/?v9ujs6ntov568av
http://www.mediafire.com/?wjdy6tgexdw2wah
http://www.mediafire.com/?8ys6wihk88kcfin

P.S. A tiny but interesting observation: In bars 225-227 of "Jerez" Q. is using - with excellent effect! - the "old style" non-syncopating pedaling.