Search - Enrique Granados, Domenico Scarlatti :: The Composer as Pianist

Lost artistry recovered

Martha F.Davis | Lakewood, CA, USA | 03/03/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For the past 70 years, music recorded on piano rolls has been treated as little more than a passing curiosity, if that. There have been earlier attempts (via vinyl recordings of piano rolls) to convey some of the unique interpretation of these late romantic/early 20th century performers, with little success.With this CD, and the previous Pierian recording of Debussy playing his own works, the artist can finally be appreciated for his style & thoughts regarding performance of his music. Granados, like Debussy, made no phonograph recordings of his own music. His career was cut short when he was lost at sea, while traveling to Europe during WWI. The pieces presented are played on a 1923 Feurich upright piano, which came from the factory with a Welte Mignon reproducing mechanism installed. This is the first time that the Welte mechanism has been accurately recorded, which gives the listener glimpses into the subtlety & shading of the composer's musical concepts. Each piece is dynamic & sounds as if the artist were in the room with you, seated at the piano. This was the concept that Edwin Welte had when he first devised the reproducing piano in 1904. In this CD that idea has finally be realized, for our enjoyment, again & again."

Wonderful realization of Granados the artist

T.A. Baxter | Rumford, RI USA | 07/03/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Granados' music enjoys nothing like the fame it ought. This album of Granados' own playing reaffirms the importance and vitality of his complex and expressive music. These recordings also highlight the fact that too little has been done with historic recordings from reproducing piano rolls; a properly restored instrument of this vintage (1905 - 1930) can produce tremendously musical results whose accuracy can often be documented(listen to CD's comparison tracks of Granados' Welte recording with his 78 rpm recording). In the absence of modern-quality recordings (or, in the case of Granados, no recordings OTHER than those on these piano rolls), such performances are indispensable in understanding pianists who departed before the advent of high fidelity recordings.I highly recommend this recording."

Nightingale 's farewell!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 10/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The ineffable and fragile figure of that poet and composer Enrique Granados revives thanks to the invaluable efforts of this new label that so many jewels have legated us. Listening that artist we can realize his powerful sensibility and Spanish charm.



The author of Goyescas plays with Iberian passion, Granados had "duende" something like special charisma to magnetize and mesmerize the people who surrounded him.



Go for this treasured album. Absolutely gratifying.

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