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Ataúlfo Argenta and Enrique Jordá - two Spanish maestri in a single Decca collection, newly remastered, with 'original jackets', and several recordings receiving their CD premieres. LIMITED EDITION. When Decca developed it's revolutionary new 'ffrr' technology in the postwar 1940s, the tag promoted it with a list of new recordings made by their most distinguished artists Kathleen Ferrier, Victor de Sabata... and Enrique Jordá. Likewise, when Decca embraced the step-change of LP a few years later, they advertised it's high fidelity and convenience with recordings made in Geneva by Ernest Ansermet and the young conductor he had determined upon as his successor in charge of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ataúlfo Argenta. This set includes, for the first time, all the recordings made by Jordá in the 78 era and receiving their first official digital remastering; his LP discography is also included. Jordá (born in 1911) and Argenta (born in 1913) were the first Spanish conductors to win an international reputation. They did so with the unmannered, dynamically vital interpretations of Romantic and 20th-century repertoire which Decca preserved in these recordings. Both Argenta and Jordá were valued by orchestras and record labels as guarantors of authenticity in the Spanish orchestral repertoire by Falla, Albéniz, Turina, Rodrigo and others. But both conductors yearned to be recognized for their equal mastery of French and German repertoire. Listening now to Argenta conduct the Faust Symphony of Liszt and Schubert's 'Great' C major, and Jordá in Haydn No. 88 and Mozart's 'Linz' Symphony, we can hear the insights they bring to the Austro-German symphonic repertoire from a Hispanic angle. Both conductors made early and near-definitive recordings of Nights in the Gardens of Spain, by Falla, and this set presents a fascinating opportunity to compare their approaches. Argent
