I know a couple of his songs, and was aware of his solo piano music and their Nationalistic style, but until this set, knew little of his abilities with an orchestra.
My experience was uneven. The first volume focused on his Spanish-tinged works, ones which were light and airy. They were pleasant and attractive, if not meaty enough for a program.
The second had a few short pieces in that vein as well, but was otherwise dominated by Wagnerian tone poems, an aspect which didn't thrill me.
With the third and final volume, I was beset with his colorful and creative orchestral settings, and it makes me want to go back to that first one to see what I missed on the first go around. I have tried to return to the Dante symphonic poem a number of times, but it fails to move me.
I do like the many vocalists, choirs, and instrumentalists which come and go throughout the set. They only add to what is quite fine playing from the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Kudos to Pablo González for his advocacy of Granados' music.
Should I mention the runtimes? As with the Naxos Leroy Anderson and Pablo de Sarasate I have recently surveyed, the Granados set has CDs timing only around 50 minutes. It is frustrating for a physical media collector, not to mention feeling like I am being bilked.
A strong set though, if not hit and miss in some ways.
A review from 2024
It is always welcome to hear from a neglected composer, such as Enrique Granados, whose orchestral music is not oft performed, nonetheless recorded. The Spanish composer is mainly known for his solo piano music, but contributed a handful of orchestral numbers, here with three volumes on Naxos.
The three volumes include works influenced by Granados’ heritage, those with overt Spanish exoticisms, works influenced by Wagner and Debussy, pieces which are moody, and darkly atmospheric, and the final volume has a the most pleasing mixture of these styles, three colourful suites of exotic colour and lyric tenderness.
I struggled to completely enjoy the first two volumes in the set. The Spanish-tinged music was light and airy, but nothing really stuck or took hold, and the Wagnerian music lost too much of what makes Granados’ musical voice special. The third volume was a complete success. Even if there weren’t overt references to Spain, the composer’s eye-twinkling spirit and orchestral color were fully alive to the last.
Unfortunately, each of the three entries time around a rather stingy 50 minutes in length, so this 3CD set could easily have been reduced to 2 discs, but I suppose someone has to make money somehow.
Either way, there is a lot of unfamiliar and hard-to-find music in this set, and thankfully everything is played with style and panache from the Barcelona SO under Pablo González. The handful of special guests, vocal soloists, choirs, and a pianist, are wonderful additions.
Listen on Youtube
Works
Volume 1 (54.47)
Volume 2 (56.57)
Volume 3 (50.11)
Performers
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra
Pablo González, conductor
Label: Naxos
Year: 2017
Total Timing: 2.41.55
Come on Naxos...stop putting these short runtime recordings on too many discs.
Luckily the Orchestral Music of Granados is worth it for the most part.
Find more Granados recordings HERE!
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