Many collectors will
recall the good old days when the decision
as to which Beethoven Fifth to buy was
limited to only twenty or thirty choices.
This particular collector, as an adventurous
schoolboy newly discovering twentieth-century
music, well remembers agonising over
two competing versions of Messiaen's
Vingt Regards. Should it be John
Ogdon, surely the safe choice, or the
other reading, so well reviewed and
highly thought of, but by a pianist
at that time unknown to me, one Thomas
Rajna?
Well, Thomas Rajna
was born in Budapest in 1928 and is
a prolific composer as well as a pianist.
And here he is now in Granados, in one
of Brilliant Classics' boxes. These
performances, which date from 1976,
are licensed from CRD and seem still
to be available from them as separate
discs. But all Granados’ piano
music on six CDs? The very thought is
daunting. And yet…
Enrique Granados was
born in Lerida in the Catalonian region
of northern Spain and died when the
liner in which he was travelling was
sunk in the English Channel by a German
U-boat. His desk was left in a chaotic
state. Many of his works are undated
and establishing any kind of chronology
is near-impossible. Opus numbers are
of little help, and where sets of pieces
were published together we are often
at a loss to know if this occurred for
the sake of convenience or because the
composer intended them to be played
as a set. His best known work, and an
undisputed masterpiece, is undoubtedly
Goyescas, and indeed piano music
forms an important part of his relatively
slim output. The music contained on
these discs is surprisingly varied and
much of it is compelling. Not a few
pieces, however, have more charm than
substance and there can be little doubt
that greater music would have appeared
had he lived.
Leaving Goyescas
aside for the moment, the second of
these six discs is devoted to the Twelve
Spanish Dances, Op. 37. It would
be good to think that this was a self-contained
set of pieces composed as a single,
coherent work, but this is not the case.
Even the titles of most of the pieces,
appealing though they are, were attributed
not by Granados, but by the publisher
in a bid to increase sales. Some of
these titles seem, at best, carelessly
chosen. The music itself is most rewarding,
however, a stimulating synthesis of
national identity and personal style.
The title of the fifth piece, Andaluza,
leads us to expect the triplet figurations,
appoggiaturas and other elements of
Arabic musical influence to be found
in traditional southern Spanish music.
We are not disappointed, especially
in the outer sections of this, one of
the more rewarding – as well as one
of the better known – of a consistently
pleasing series of pieces. The short,
eighth piece, bizarrely entitled Sardana,
is also particularly attractive, its
grand outer sections contrasting with
a central passage which is a kind of
cross between a dance and a march.
The first piece on
disc 3, Allegro de Concierto,
is highly romantic in atmosphere and
strongly influenced by Chopin. It gives
out relatively little Spanish atmosphere,
and the same might be said of the Valses
Poeticos. Written in 1887, this
is a kind of suite of seven waltzes
with an introduction and coda. It is
a charming and beautiful work lasting
around a quarter of an hour and would
please any recital audience. Rajna invests
each waltz with its own flavour, piquant
and nostalgic by turns. The Capricho
Español gets short shrift
from Bryce Morrison in the accompanying
notes, though the following Rapsodia
Aragonesa and Carezza-Vals
are even more comprehensively dismissed
as derivative and written to please
both publisher and public. Whether listeners
will agree with this depends, as so
often, on individual taste, but these
pieces brought me a lot of pleasure
even though they are hardly demanding
to listen to. Oriental is a larger-scale
work, a set of variations with an Arabic-sounding
intermezzo and a powerful, virtuoso
coda. The Two Impromptus which
follow are elegant and beautifully crafted.
Moresque y Arabe,
a two-part piece full of Spanishry and
the first piece on disc 4, seems strangely
inconsequential though with the charm
and ease of listening that characterises
all the lighter pieces in this collection.
Though the notes refer to the separate
pieces of the charming Cuentos de
la juventud, op.1, their titles
are not listed anywhere nor are the
pieces separately banded. There is nothing
Spanish about Sardana, despite
its name, and the piece carries more
weight than many of the shorter works.
The five easy pieces which make up Bocetos
(Sketches) are skilful sound paintings,
charming but undemanding, and unbanded
once again. The notes state that Mazurka
sounds strangely Spanish; it didn't
to this listener, though Barcarola,
dark and melancholy, undoubtedly did.
Los Soldados de Cartón
is a funny little piece for children
full of fanfares, whereas A la Pradera
is a short set of pastoral-sounding
variations on a simple theme. Danza
caracteristica begins with a hypnotic
theme over repeated quaver accompaniment.
There is a short, more forceful contrasting
section before the opening music returns
leading to a coda of ever-increasing
wildness. The title of A la Cubana
says it all, and like most of the music
on this set, it is well worth getting
to know. The final work on the disc
is the second book of Escenas poéticas
(Poetic Scenes). The titles of these
four pieces – ‘Memories of Distant Lands’,
or again, ‘The Angel of the Cloisters’
– gives some idea of their nature, but
they are rather more than the picturesque
pieces their titles might lead us to
expect. Composed, as were the pieces
in the first book (on disc 6) between
1904 and 1907 but only published after
the composer's death, these pieces,
dedicated to the composer's daughter,
are, like the Bocetos, playable
by more modest pianists.
Disc 5 begins with
a work of substantial scope, the set
of six pieces entitled Escenas Romanticas
(Romantic Scenes). The second piece,
Berceuse, is particularly affecting,
and the third, which carries no title,
is a large-scale rhapsody passing through
many different moods from passion to
quiet contemplation by way of the nightingale's
song. The fourth is a short interlude
leading to the dramatic heart of the
work which is the fifth piece, a striking
and stupendous feat of piano writing.
It ends in a most remarkable way: after
the main climax the music winds down
in a strange and mysterious fashion,
taking far longer about it than we would
expect. If we were told that the serene
final piece came from Chopin's pen we
would be happy to believe it. The disc
continues with the Seis piezas sobre
cantos populares Españoles,
which, as we would expect from the title,
is a collection of pieces based on Spanish
folk tunes. These are early pieces,
certainly inconsequential, but immediately
accessible all the same. Three short,
atmospheric pieces follow, including
the superbly brooding Danza lenta.
Cartas de amor is both simple
and charming, and Aparición,
dedicated to a pupil, rather more than
this. Three further, short pieces make
up Libro de Horas (Book of Hours),
all three sombre in nature, the second,
which closes with the nightingale's
song, particularly affecting.
Disc 6 is devoted to
early works, beginning with the richly
romantic Impromptu, op. 39. The
Seis estudios expressivos represent
for this listener the least individual
music in the collection. One senses
the composer's character not yet fully
formed, and the influence of other composers,
notably Schumann, is obvious here to
the point of a clear quotation. The
Marche militaire fully lives
up to its title apart from a gentler
trio section and this is followed by
Estudio, a piece whose rhapsodic
opening is only the first of a surprising
number of different moods. Elisenda
was dedicated to Pablo Casals and Paisaje
is a gentle evocation of the countryside.
The three pieces which make up the first
book of Escenas Poeticas are
rather melancholy and withdrawn, a quotation
from Wagner in the second piece clearly
identifying which Eva y Walter
are depicted therein. The two military
marches are good fun: they are for piano
duet, and both parts are played by Thomas
Rajna, a more difficult task than one
might imagine.
The merits of any collection
of piano music by Granados must be measured
by the performance of Goyescas.
The work is given pride of place on
the first disc, along with the short
piece, a kind of pendant, El pelele,
which was published later. This is music
of extraordinary richness, and even
the best of the remainder seems pale
in comparison with the scope and passion
of these tableaux inspired by the work
of Goya. Unlike the other sets of pieces
here, the work was conceived as a cycle
and is unified not only in mood and
atmosphere but also by the use and reappearance
of its themes. The cumulative affect
of listening to the work is considerable,
then, and hearing it in a fine performance
is a powerful and moving experience.
Thomas Rajna is a dedicated advocate,
both in this towering work and in the
other pieces contained in this set.
He fears no comparison in respect of
technical command, and indeed many of
these pieces present the player with
fearsome difficulties. His performances
are convincing and affecting and will
not disappoint. I have compared his
reading of Goyescas to that of
Alicia de Larrocha on Decca, and find
that his view of this music is consistently
slower than hers, an aspect which only
troubled me once I started comparative
listening. Another factor, more subtle,
indeed impossible to capture in words,
is the added authenticity of de Larrocha's
reading. She simply sounds more "right",
unsurprising perhaps, but raising rather
troubling questions about the supremacy
of musicians in their own national repertoire.
In spite of this, Rajna's version is
superb and in any event direct comparison
is irrelevant since when you buy his
Goyescas you get all the rest
as well.
Others who have heard
this set have found the recorded piano
sound on the hard side, but this did
not trouble me. It is handsomely presented
with each disc in a card slip-case inside
a sturdy box. The covers feature images
by Goya, attractively reproduced. There
is a booklet containing notes on the
first disc by Roy Carter and on the
others by Bryce Morrison. These are
authoritative, and the only criticism
one could level against them is a frustrating
lack of dates making it impossible to
find one's way around this extensive
collection. A further inconvenience
is that several of the larger collections
of pieces are unbanded. A lot of fiddling
about would be necessary, for example,
to find the individual pieces – six
of them in twenty-six minutes – of the
Escenas Romanticas, especially
when here, as elsewhere, the titles
of the individual pieces do not appear
in the accompanying documentation.
This slightly disappointing
aspect of the presentation apart, we
have here a most rewarding collection,
and, at the Brilliant price, the kind
of astonishing bargain collectors are
dangerously likely to want to take for
granted.
William Hedley
BUY NOW
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Complete Track Listing
CD1
Piano Works vol. 1
Goyescas
Los majos enamorados
Book I
1. Los requiebros [8:43]
2. Coloquio en la reja [13:42]
3. El fandango de Candil [6:33]
4. Quejas o la Maja y el Ruisenor [7:36]
Book II
5. El amor y la Muerte (Balada) [15:42]
6. Epilogo (Serenata del espectro) [8:04]
7. El Pelele [4:36]
CD2
Piano Works vol. 2
12 Spanish Dances Op. 37
1. No. 1 Galante [2:36]
2. No. 2 Oriental [2:32]
3. No. 3 Fandango [3:42]
4. No. 4 Villanesca [5:26]
5. No. 5 Andaluza (Playera) [4:41]
6. No. 6 Rondella aragonesa [2:42]
7. No. 7 Valenciana (Calasera) [4:39]
8. No. 8 Sardana [3:48]
9. No. 9 Romantica [4:24]
10. No. 10 Melancolica [4:24]
11. No. 11 Arabesca [6:09]
12. No. 12 Bolero [5:08]
Total: 55:37
CD3
Piano Works vol. 3
1. Allegro de Concierto [8:45]
2. Valses Poeticos [14:47]
3. Capricho Español Op. 39 [5:25]
4. Rapsodia Aragonesa [6:50]
5. Carezza-Vals Op. 38 [6:52]
6. Oriental-Cancion Variada Intermedio y Final [10:45]
7. Dos Impromptus: [6:00]
Total: 60:06
CD4
Piano Works vol. 4
1. Moresque y Arabe [6:40]
2. Cuentos de la juventud Op. 1 [15:57]
3. Sardana [4:42]
4. Bocetos [12:54]
5. Mazurka Op. 2 [2:08]
6. Barcarola Op. 45 [3:10]
7. Los Soldados de Cartón [1:35]
8. A la Pradera [3:05]
9. Danza caracteristica [5:30]
10. A la Cubana Op. 36 [4:15]
Escenas Poeticas
11. Recuerdo de Paises Lejanos [3:51]
12. El Angel de los Claustros [4:12]
13. Cancion de Margarita [1:45]
14. Suenos del Poeta [6:47]
Total: 75:32
CD5
Piano Works vol. 5
1. Escenas Romanticas [26:23]
2. Seis piezas sobre cantos populares Españoles [26:02]
Preludio-Anoranza-Ecos de la Parranda-Vascongada
3. Danza lenta [2:31]
4. Aparación [2:42]
5. Cartas de amor valses intimos Op. 44 [3:42]
Libro de Horas
6. En el jardin [2:00]
7. El invierno [4:54]
8. Al suplicio [4:03]
Total: 74:27
CD6
Piano Works vol. 6
1. Impromptu Op. 39 [5:20]
2. Seis Estudios expresivos [14:09]
3. Marche militaire [3:15]
4. Estudio Op. Posth. [3:03]
5. Elisenda [5:58]
6. Paisaje Op. 35 [6:08]
7. Marchas Militares: No. 1 [2:57]
8. Marchas Militares: No. 2 [2:38]
Escenas Poeticas
9. Berceuse [4:56]
10. Eva y Walter [3:28]
11. Danza de la Rosa [1:37]
Total: 54:04
Thomas Rajna, piano 
