# Spanish music thread



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Either real Spanish composers or music written by others but inspired by the Spanish idiom! Looking for recommendations and links here.

I'll start with the _Sinfonietta _from 1925 by Ernesto Halffter (1905-89). A great piece IMHO!

Please make your own recommendations.


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

All of Albeniz, De La Roche ,, her early/mid/late recordings. Also her Granados recordings.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

*De Falla*'s well-known _Nights in the Gardens of Spain_ remains the quintessential piece for me:






A lesser known, catchy and lovely work is* Tomas Marco*'s _Guitar Concerto "Concierto del Agua"_:


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## CrunchyFr0g (Jun 11, 2019)




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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Victoria - Officium Defunctorum deserves a mention.

For some reason, Spanish composers have made little lasting impression on me. Falla's Nights in the gardens of Spain is for me by far the best work from this country. Plenty of pleasing music (like Albeniz, Granados, Falla, Rodrigo, Turina) but not a lot that I would deem essential for me.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

My favorite Spanish composer may well be Mompou, whose wonderful piano music has gotten a flurry of recent recordings. I also want to mention Gerhard, who, on the basis of a superb symphonic cycle, strikes me as the country's 'best orchestrator' (if that can ever be objectively measured).


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## Guest (Jun 25, 2019)

Hundreds, just a tiny few below:

Morales - Parce Mihi Domini

Victoria- Missa Pro Defunctis; lots of motets, e.g O quam gloriosum, O magnum mysterium

Sanz - Espanoletta, Suite Espanola

Tarrega - Capricho arabe

Albeniz - Suite espanola, Iberia (both the piano version and the orchestral suite)

Granados - Goyescas, Danza espanola

Falla - Nights in the Gardens Of Spain, El Amor Brujo, El sombrero de tres picos

Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez, Fantasia para un gentihombre


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Spanish music is extremely interesting at the top and the tail, but less so for me in the middle. At one end there's an avant garde represented by, amongst others, Cristobal Halffter, Luis De Pablo, Tomas Marco, and Francisco Guerrero. Ken, who still likes Beethoven, may well enjoy Halffter's second string quartet, for example. (Don't confuse Christobal Halffter with Ernsesto.)









And at the other end there is some ravishing renaissance music, and where better to start with that than with this compilation by the wonderful Nadine Balbeisi and the passionate Fernando Marin?






or with this fascinating a capella recording from Christopher Page


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

KenOC said:


> Either real Spanish composers or music written by others but inspired by the Spanish idiom! Looking for recommendations and links here.


I suggest you try _Colección De Canciones Populares Españolas_, which may be my favorite Spanish recording of all time.















The recording features poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca playing the piano accompanying Spanish songstress 'La Argentinita' in classic Spanish folk songs. The remarkable thing to me, aside from the stunning performances, is that the roots of so much of the Spanish classical music I know and love (such as "Nights in the Gardens of Spain") is to be found in these songs. This is the source material of Spanish music. It doesn't get any more fundamental, or _better_ than this!


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Certainly not disagreeing with anything mentioned so far, Falla is for me the finest composer to have come out of Spain, but also Granados can run him close.

This CD, which is of Czech (!) origin, is however one of my favourite CDs of all time. I cannot get into any authenticity discussions, alas, but these songs, and the voice here, are both gorgeous. Do try it!









Here's the beautiful lullaby:


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga. He died at an incredibly young age, but if his string quartets are any indication, I think he could have stood, not side by side, but in the same company as Schubert and Mendelssohn.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Nocturnos de Andalucia by Lorenzo Palomo! I was lucky to see Pepe Romero play this in Oslo about 15 years ago. For me it seems that many Spanish composers are kind of stuck in national romanticism. A bit out of time maybe. I really like this guitar concerto anyway


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Something a bit more sharp-edged -- Falla's _Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Ensemble_, written for Wanda Landowska. The central slow movement is unique.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

vtpoet said:


> Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga. He died at an incredibly young age, but if his string quartets are any indication, I think he could have stood, not side by side, but in the same company as Schubert and Mendelssohn.


And also a very finely crafted Symphony in D minor.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

CrunchyFr0g said:


> (Rodrigo- Junto al generlalife)


^One of my favorite pieces by my favorite Spanish composer. I love Spanish music that is influenced by it's rich folk music stuff like Albeniz, Falla and Rodrigo is right up my alley.

Another lesser known piece I like is:
Ruiz Pipo - _Cancion y Danza_





And from the Baroque era:
Sanz: 





Also much of the music of D Scarlatti deserves a mention, who though technically an Italian composer was much influenced by Spanish music.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Granados was not only a tremendous composer but pianist [piano roll]: 



 Such pride, dignity and nobility in the Spanish soul - a tremendous loss for music when his ship was sunk during World War I. "On the way across the English Channel, the Sussex was torpedoed by a German U-boat, as part of the German World War I policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. In a failed attempt to save his wife Amparo, whom he saw flailing about in the water some distance away, Granados jumped out of his lifeboat and drowned."


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Speaking of Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola, here's his overture to _The Happy Slaves_, an opera he wrote at 13, now mostly lost.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

And here's Arriaga's more mature Symphony in D, probably written in 1824 when he was 18, a year before he died.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

You should hear Antonio José's guitar sonata! Quite impressionistic. Many great recordings around.


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## poodlebites (Apr 5, 2016)

Hilary Hahn has just released a record with six partitas written by the Spanish composer Antón García Abril. It's not easy to hear them (at least for me), but after a few listens you can hear the Spanish roots.


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