Artur Pizarro - Albeniz & Granados - Classic FM Magazine

Instrumental & Chamber Editor's Choice

Anyone performing these two gorgeous collections of Spanish piano music has to compete with the classic recordings by the great Alicia de Larrocha. That said, there are different ways of doing things - and Artur Pizarro's interpretations offer a richly rewarding alternative view of this music's array of crisp dance-rhythms, smouldering bursts of song and vibrant atmosphere. Pizarro has a marvellous ear for the darkly exotic side of Albéniz's soundworld in Iberia: ‘Almeria', for instance, can never have sounded more haunting. And his immense technical strength (it needs to be!) rises in style to challenges such as the ‘Fandango' in Goyescas.

 

Listening Notes
Spanish sounds: The seventh piece of Iberia is ‘El Albaicín', Granada's old gipsy quarter. Albéniz's piano writing here switches between guitar-like sounds and surging keyboard virtuosity: Pizarro excels in both departments.

Romantic dreams: The close of ‘The Maiden and the Nightingale' ('Quejas, o la Maja y el Ruisenor') is a duet between the yearning heroine of Goyescas and the bird whose singing she listens to alone on her balcony. It's a moment of magic, beautifully captured by Pizarro.