MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet
Download: Classicsonline

 

Tomás BRETÓN (1850-1923)
Prelude to Los amantes de Teruel (1889) [10.30]; Prelude to Guzmán el bueno (1876) [8.13]; Prelude to Garin (1892) [7.21]; Prelude to La Dolores (1895) [4.02]; En la Alhambra (1888) [7.43]; Escenas andaluzas (1894) [26.08]
Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid/Miguel Roa
rec. March 2004 and September 2005 at the Rehearsal Hall of the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Teatro Isabel Clara Eugenia, Spain. DDD
NAXOS 8.572076 [64.14]
Experience Classicsonline


Highly esteemed in his lifetime, though sadly neglected since, Bretón built an enviable reputation on the theatrical music that he composed between 1875 and 1896. The Preludes to four of his zarzuelas are included on this disc. They take the form of little symphonic poems which tell the story of the opera in just a few moments of romantic and elegantly scored music.
 

In a review recently of Bretón’s Chamber works (Naxos 8.570713) I wrote how disappointed I was because I had the “expectation that we might have something a little more Spanish in flavour”. Well, this new CD gives us more of an indication as to where Bretón was going in his plans to introduce an original, nationalistic opera. In doing so he evolved a nationalistic style pre-empting Granados, Albeniz and de Falla by only a few years. One could say that Breton was the father of this great school of Spanish composers. 

Of the opera preludes, the one to ‘Los Amantas de Teruel’ is the most immediately interesting. It encapsulates a powerful and lyrical section for the lovers, a battle scene and their meeting in Heaven - all compressed into just over ten minutes. 

The story behind ‘Garin’ is of a monk in medieval Montserrat. He is accused of raping the daughter of a local count. All ends well however resulting in the dancing of the Sardana - a Catalan dance. Here I had a shock because back in 2002 when I was in Perpignan I recorded on video a sardana. I realized that Breton uses the very same tune which I had recorded over one hundred years later. The informative booklet notes by Victor Sánchez Sanchez tell us that Breton used folk tunes in other works. 

I must add at this stage that the track numbering is incorrect something which Naxos should have picked up on. The ‘Garin’ prelude should be track 5 not track 7 which actually is the prelude to Breton’s first opera ‘Guzmán el bueno’.[see footnote] I started off thinking that this prelude was a Sullivanesque joke, a cousin of Mikado with its mock-Moroccan melody for the conquest of Iberia and Christian heroic march tune. As it went on it became irritating and dull and I expect never to play that track again. 

The prelude to Bretón’s longest opera ‘La Dolores’ is the shortest on the disc, too short really to make its point. It comprises a very Spanish mix of melodies and rhythms taken from the opera and ends in a brief ‘jota’. 

The longest and most interesting work on this disc is the ‘Escenas andaluzas (Andalucian Scenes). This is a four movement tone picture. Bretón spent much of his life (from 1885) as an orchestral conductor in Madrid. There he composed, as well as operas and zarzuelas, three symphonies. He was an experienced orchestrator and these skills of orchestral familiarity emerge fully in this the best work here. One can sense that apart from its intrinsic attractions it is building a foundation for the music of Albeniz and de Falla. It opens with a colourful ‘Bolero’. A ‘Polo’ uses an evocative oboe solo over string pizzicatos to conjure a steamy outdoor guitar. The next ‘Marcha y saeta’ is a slightly comic, processional march set in Holy Week. Its middle section uses the cor anglais to intone a quasi-plainchant saeta - a devotional song. Finally another Andalucian dance - a lively ‘Zapateado’ - brings the piece to a happy conclusion. I enjoyed the work tremendously. It made me want to get back to that wonderful part of the world as soon as possible. 

It would be foolish to say that the orchestra here are a top-flight outfit but they have been very thoroughly drilled, well rehearsed and quite closely recorded. The orchestral detail is well captured and fine points like harp glissandi and castanets can be heard clearly. The strings are well forward and they carry the main weight of the music. Anyway this generally undemanding music offers them few challenges. Miguel Roa steers them around the occasional tricky corners with alacrity. 

‘En la Alhambra’ which ends the CD is a charming, elegant and slightly exotic single movement piece. It is lightly scored and has the air of an escapee from Carmen. It was very popular at the time and still has a certain if somewhat muted atmosphere. 

What we need next are the symphonies so we can judge whether Breton could tackle the composition of music which demanded a more thoughtful, philosophical and gritty approach. So Naxos, what about it? 

This is an enjoyable disc well worth the modest financial outlay. 

Gary Higginson

see also Review by John Sheppard

Footnote

Comment from the Conductor

Miguel Roa advises: Track 5 is the Prelude to Guzman el Bueno, and Track 7 is the Sardana from Garin.

The booklet and rear inlays have been revised



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.