CD 1
1. Amadeo VIVES
"Por el hume sabe" Doña
Francisquita 4'33; 2. Reveriano
SOUTULLO & Juan VERT "Bella
inamorata" El último romántico
4'15; 3. José
SERRANO "Canción húngara"
Alma de Dios 4'58; 4. Ruperto
CHAPÍ "Jota" La
Bruja 4'20; 5. Jacinto
GUERRERO "Fiel espada triunfadora"
El huésped el sevilliano
3'28; 6. Federico
MORENO Torroba "De este apacible
rincón de Madrid" Luisa Fernanda
3'42; 7. Pablo
LUNA "Pajarin tu que vuelas"
La pícara molinera 4'48;
8. José
SERRANO "La que quiera saber"
La alegría del batallón
2'24; 9. Jesús
GURIDI "Yo no sé que
veo en Ana Mari" El caserio 5'10;
10. José
SERRANO "Los de Aragón"
Los de Aragón 4'52; 11.
Tomás
BRETÓN Preludio La
verbena de la Paloma 4'00; 12. Gerónimo
GIMÉNEZ Intermedio
El baile de Luis Alonso 3'20;
13. Ruperto
CHAPÍ Preludio Las
bravías 1'55; 14. Federico
CHUECA Preludio La alegía
de la huerta 4'53
José Carreras, tenor
English Chamber Orchestra/Antoni Ros
Marbà (1-10), Enrique Garcia
Asensio (11-14)
CD 2
1. Federico
CHUECA Preludio Agua,
azucarillos y aguardiente 2'35;
2. Pablo LUNA
"De españa vengo"
El niño judío 5'37;
3. Ruperto
CHAPI El barquillero
5'30; Federico
CHUECA La Gran Via
- 4. "Tango de la Ermenegilda" 3'37,
5. "Schotis del Eliseo madrileño"
3'37; 6. Gerónimo
GIMÉNEZ Intermedio
Soleares 3'35; Gerónimo
GIMÉNEZ La Tempranica
- 7. "Sierras de Granada" 6'03; 8. "Zapateado"
1'40; 9. Ruperto
CHAPÍ La chavala
5'22; 10. Ruperto
CHAPÍ "Carceleras"
Las hijas del Zebedeo 4'38; 11.
Gerónimo
GIMÉNEZ Preludio Los
borrachos 5'45; 12. Reveriano
SOUTULLO & Juan VERT Intermedio
La leyenda del beso 3'43; 13.
Géronimo
GIMÉNEZ Preludio El
baile de Luis Alonso 2'23; 14. Pablo
LUNA Danza India El niño
judío 2'02; 15. Amadeo
VIVES Fandango Doña
Francisquita 2'27
Teresa Berganza, mezzo-soprano
English Chamber Orchestra/Enrique Garcia
Asensio
CD3
José
SERRANO Alma de Dios
- 1. Preludio 1'15; 2. "Escena y Farruca"
4'25; 3. Franciso
Asenjo BARBIERI El barberillo
de Lavapiés 2'25; 4. José
SERRANO La reina mora
5'45; 5. Reveriano
SOUTULLO & Juan VERT El
último romántico 3'35;
6. Ruperto
CHAPÍ La patria
chica 1'25; José
SERRANO La alegria del
battalón - 7. Escena 4'55;
8. "Canciön de la Gitana" 1'40;
9. Federico
CHUECA El año pasado
por agua 3'07; 10. Gerónimo
GIMÉNEZ Intermedio
La boda de Luis Alonso 2'47;
11. José
SERRANO Los de Aragón
4'05; 12. Ruperto
CHAPÍ La revoltosa
3'35; 13. Gerónimo
GIMÉNEZ Preludio Enseñanza
libre 3'57; 14. Federico
CHUECA Preludio El bateo
3'02; 15. Pablo
LUNA Danza del fuego Benamor
6'27; 16. Ruperto
CHAPÍ Preludio La
revoltosa 5'08
Teresa Berganza, soprano
English Chamber Orchestra/Enrique Garcia
Asensio
Brilliant Classics
may be easier to hunt down at Superdrug
or Woolworths than in ‘respectable’
CM shops, but this tightly-run Dutch
company is all about quality as well
as phenomenal cheapness. Their ultra-super-bargain
boxes now assay the mainstream Spanish
vocal, orchestral and piano repertoire;
and once again their chosen licences
(from Ensayo, Delos, ASV and others)
are as tasteful and discriminating as
their packaging. Amongst several attractive
recent issues this 3-CD set of zarzuela
romanzas sung by José
Carreras and Teresa Berganza, with Antoni
Ros Marbà and Enrique García
Asensio conducting the English Chamber
Orchestra, is a stand-out. At around
5.99 Euros nobody could feel short-changed,
but given superior quality performances
from two world-famous Spanish singers
this has to be amongst the best introductions
to zarzuela available at any price.
José Carreras
was caught at his prime in 10 classic
romanzas. If compared against
his more recent collection for Philips
there's rarely a smile (or a true pianissimo)
in the voice, his tone is much fuller
and more burnished here. His diction
is clear, his delivery forthright. Subtle
dramatic variation was not high up his
agenda in 1975, and we don't get much
sense of context or character, but he
is very winning in the big romantic
sings. Every Hispanic tenor of note
has sung "Por el hume sabe" from that
greatest of all 1920s three-act zarzuelas
Doña Francisquita (why
on earth is this masterpiece not picked
up by ENO?) and many have made fine
recordings. In the 1920s and 1930s Carreras’s
fellow Catalan Emilio Vendrell was simply
in a different class for musicianship,
beauty of tone and touching character,
whilst for many Alfredo Kraus's sense
of line makes him the post-war nonpareil;
but the younger Carreras’s generous,
youthful ardour proves a match for all
other recent rivals.
The hero's moving outpouring
of pent-up pride and bitterness from
Los de Aragón is even
better, standing out as excellent amongst
much which is good. Ros Marbà
contributes some neat interpretative
points, teasing out unexpected subtleties
in Torroba's Luisa Fernanda scoring
and expected ones in the Vives and Luna
tracks. His care, enhanced by the orchestra's
quiet mastery and a notably clear and
well-balanced recording, gives the lie
to the lazy critical line that zarzuela
composers were good at tunes but nothing
else. The Brilliant transfer is miles
better than in previous LP and CD incarnations,
of which latter there have been at least
two (on German Acanta and Spanish Ensayo)
and altogether this is as good an advert
for Carreras’s golden youth as any album
he ever made.
About the same time
Ensayo issued the two, beautifully planned
LPs featuring Teresa Berganza which
make up the lion’s share of this set,
varied programmes of solos alternating
with popular and lesser known orchestral
preludios and intermedios,
all wonderfully done. Especially given
some unusually involved singing from
Berganza, whose rich, even mezzo is
taken at the flood, they make for just
about the most satisfying straight-through
listening experiences of the innumerable
"zarzuela gala" albums on record. Highlights
of CD 2 are Berganza's spectacular second
version of the Carceleras from
Las hijas del Zebedeo; and the
sumptuous string playing in Gerónimo
Giménez's Soleares intermedio
- what a fabulous composer of these
short orchestral pieces he was! The
flamboyant showpiece Canción
española from Luna's El
niño judio has been endlessly
recorded, by every soprano and mezzo
from Conchita Supervía through
to Montserrat Caballé and beyond,
but never with such witty, imperious
poise as here. Berganza manages to hint
at the OTT flavour of Luna's Andalusian
trills and strummings as well as the
heartfelt, patriotic passion beneath.
Zarzuela at its best, like the films
of Almodóvar, can get you laughing
and crying at the same time, and Berganza
captures this just as spellbindingly
as Victoria de los Ángeles in
her famous EMI recital of romanzas
under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.
CD3 is centred on music
from the more direct and demotic género
chico repertoire, one-act zarzuelas
of popular life from around the turn
of the century. Mostly we get lively,
Andalusian-style gypsy "Spanishry",
rather than the working-class street
scenes unique to the chico repertoire;
but it's all well done and the programming
cleverly rings the changes, opening
with the atmospheric song-and-dance
camp sequence from Serrano's Alma
de Dios, and ending as far as the
singer's contribution goes with a notably
sensual guajiras, a street song
and dance imported from 19th century
Cuba, taken from Chapí's masterpiece
La revoltosa.
Note "the singer's
contribution"; for Brilliant have thrown
in a hidden bonus of orchestral items
to fill out the 3 CDs. Taken from a
fourth Ensayo LP, again previously reissued
in various CD incarnations of lesser
quality, these 13 (of 16) preludios
and intermedios are no mere padding.
The music by Luna, Giménez, Chueca
and others is simply superb - exhilarating,
colourful and subtle by turns. Like
the Berganza recitals, these readings
sit very near the top of the class,
very nearly equalling more celebrated
Alhambra LP collections from Ataulfo
Argenta and Frühbeck de Burgos.
Under García Asensio's fiery
direction, the English Chamber Orchestra
- at the time amongst the world's best
smaller ensembles - play this vibrant
music with flexible style, almost as
if they hailed from Lavapiés
rather than London. The molten Danza
del fuego from Luna's Persian sex-romp
operetta Benamor is specially
winning, but high standards rule throughout.
With such good transfers as well as
informed, literate liner notes and reminiscences
from Enrique Franco - though alas no
texts for the songs - this Brilliant
box easily lives up to its name. At
the giveaway price, nobody should hesitate
for a moment.
Christopher Webber
José Carreras / Teresa Berganza