Benita Meshulam - Goyescas - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

In his booklet essay, Jean-François Dichamp explains that he experienced an epiphany with Goyescas while Granados himself later reworked his piano cycle into an opera, first premiered to acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera House, just a couple of months before the composer's untimely death by drowning, the pianist sees the piano cycle as a through-written dramatic work in it's own right an opera for piano. He plays it accordingly, with tremendous fire and awareness of the voices which may be heard in pieces such as 'The Maiden and the Nightingale'. This is the lyric heart of a cycle which opens with the courtly insinuations of 'Galant Compliments' and soon progresses to a more ardent love duet, 'Conversation at the Window'. Finally, as so often in Spanish music, death has the last word, and the cycle closes with the Serenade to a Ghost comical yet chilling, unnerving and quintessentially Spanish. Between each section of the Goyescas, like intermezzi at the opera, Dichamp places a Baroque keyboard sonata, by Scarlatti and Soler. This is the music that would have accompanied aristocratic evenings for the nobles who were immortalized - not always in complimentary terms - by Goya. These are the paintings that changed the course of Granados's career when he first saw them as a young man in the Prado museum in Madrid, and determined that one day he would pay homage to Goya's muse in music. Jean-François Dichamp graduated from the Paris Conservatoire and became a pupil of Nikita Magaloff. His recordings have long attracted critical praise 'A pianist of great delicacy, subtle and elegant' (Le Monde de la Musique); 'his Chopin is at once thorough and profound' (Diapason).

Pianist Charlotte Hu presents Goyescas, an album featuring Granados' monumental Goyescas alongside two Spanish Dances. A cornerstone of Spanish piano literature, Goyescas was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya and unfolds as a richly poetic suite where passion, tenderness, shadow, and light coexist across six vividly characterised movements. From the playful charm of InchLos requiebrosInch to the lyrical intimacy of InchLa maja y el ruiseñorInch and the profound emotional summit of InchEl amor y la muerte,Inch Granados' masterwork reveals a world of dramatic contrasts and refined storytelling. Hu captures both the virtuosic brilliance and the deeply intimate narrative of the music, illuminating it's modern harmonic language and unmistakable Spanish spirit with freshness and reverence.Complementing the suite are two Spanish Dances the hauntingly introspective No. 2, InchOriental,Inch and the vibrant, guitar-inflected No. 5, InchAndaluza.Inch Together, they offer concentrated glimpses into Granados' expressive range - from quiet longing and poetic reflection to radiant joy and folkloric vitality. This marks her second album on PENTATONE, following her debut, Liszt Metamorphosis, released in 2024.

Levy / Milanova-Steiner - Canciones Sephardicas [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/14/2000