Alicia de Larrocha - Manuel de Falla: Piezas espanolas (2010)

"... The Falla programme is a reissue of the pianist’s 1973 Decca recording (Kingsway Hall again) rather than her harsh-sounding selection for Hispavox/EMI made in the late 1950s. Larrocha does not play the music as much as inhabit it. The Cuatro Piezas españolas, inspired by Albéniz’s Ibéria, are given peerless performances. It’s a wonder they are not better known. The fourth of them, “Andaluza”, aptly prefaces the Fantasia Baetica (“Baetica” being the Roman name for Andalusia). Composed for Arthur Rubinstein, who gave the premiere and then abandoned it, it is not the most gratefully written piece for two hands but its vibrant colours, astringent harmonies and piquant, ever-changing rhythms make it one of the most evocative of showpieces. The suites derived from Falla’s two ballet scores, ending with the “Ritual Fire Dance”, round off this shortish but exceptional disc."