Alicia de Larrocha, piano. Decca 417 887-2—2 CDs.
Alicia de Larrocha returned to Albéniz’s Iberia throughout her career, and each recording reflects a different stage in her development. The fiery 1962 Hispavox version catches her playing with youthful abandon; this 1986 Decca account offers the mature pianist, technically undiminished but more concerned with sonority, balance and the architecture beneath the music’s dazzling surface.
Recorded digitally at the University Music School in Cambridge, the set gives de Larrocha a piano sound of remarkable presence. Albéniz’s densely layered writing emerges with clarity, yet the instrument retains sufficient warmth and resonance to suggest the colors of an orchestra. The result may not possess the volatility of the earlier recording, but it is more spacious and considered.
“Evocación” establishes the difference immediately. De Larrocha gives the music time to breathe, allowing its distant rhythms and half-remembered melodies to emerge naturally. Nothing is exaggerated. The atmosphere comes from her control of tonal weight and harmonic color rather than from conspicuously impressionistic effects.
“El puerto” is delicately sprung, its rhythms crisp without becoming brittle. In “El Corpus en Sevilla,” de Larrocha carefully grades the music’s progress from distant procession to blazing climax. Bells ring through the piano texture, melodies collide, and the religious ceremony seems to pass directly before us. The performance is grand but never heavy, and the quieter return after the climax is beautifully judged.
The second book brings some of her most refined playing. “Rondeña” dances with easy flexibility, while “Almería” unfolds in long, sensuous phrases. De Larrocha’s pacing allows the music’s decorative details to remain audible without interrupting its flow. “Triana” has brilliance and rhythmic lift, although listeners accustomed to the 1962 performance may miss a little of its danger.
“El Albaicín” is one of the set’s finest achievements. De Larrocha suggests the tension and improvisatory character of flamenco while maintaining complete control of Albéniz’s complex organization. The contrasts between brooding declamation and lyrical release are exceptionally vivid. “El Polo” has a grim persistence, and “Lavapiés” becomes a crowded urban spectacle in which multiple rhythms and voices remain clearly differentiated.
In the fourth book, “Málaga” is graceful and poised, while “Jerez” benefits enormously from de Larrocha’s patient approach. Its long paragraphs develop with unusual coherence, and the performance captures both the music’s heat and its underlying melancholy. “Eritaña” brings Iberia to an exuberant conclusion. De Larrocha does not drive it as recklessly as she once did, but the rhythmic precision and tonal brilliance are formidable.
Navarra, left unfinished by Albéniz and completed by Déodat de Séverac, makes a natural pendant. Its swirling dance rhythms and crowded decorations can easily sound overstuffed, but de Larrocha keeps the textures light and buoyant.
The complete Suite española, Op. 47, fills out the collection generously. These pieces are less harmonically adventurous than Iberia, but their directness and melodic charm make them more immediately accessible. “Granada” is played with affectionate simplicity, “Cataluña” and “Sevilla” with rhythmic character, and “Cádiz” with gentle lyricism. “Asturias,” now perhaps Albéniz’s most familiar composition, has tremendous momentum without being pounded. “Aragón,” “Cuba” and “Castilla” complete a colorful journey through the composer’s imagined Spain.
Producer Paul Myers and engineer John Dunkerley give the piano impressive range. The climaxes have weight without hardness, bass lines remain firm, and quiet passages retain their color. The sound is unmistakably early digital, but it is considerably more natural than many recordings of its period.
Some listeners will continue to prefer de Larrocha’s 1962 Iberia for its spontaneity and willingness to take risks. The present recording offers different virtues: greater tonal variety, stronger structural command and a much more satisfying recorded piano. The complete Suite española also makes this the more comprehensive collection.
Verdict: A magnificent mature account of Iberia and an essential Albéniz collection. The earlier recording may burn more fiercely, but this Decca set reveals the music with unmatched poise, clarity and depth.
