JOAQUIN RODRIGO

JOAQUIN RODRIGO
ORCHESTRAL WORKS 6
Symphony Orchestra of Castille and León, Spain, Max Bradago Darman, conductor.
Naxos 8.555962
www.naxos.com

by Steve Koenig

I first fell under Rodgrigo’s spell not through the repertory staple Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, but via Gregory Allen’s superb set of complete piano recordings (Bridge BCD 9027A/B), which a friend laid on me, and charmed me unawares. Consequently, I picked up a four disc set and a single of Rodrigo’s orchestral works conducted by Enrique Batíz and the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, which is a much tighter ensemble than their relatives from Spain. These EMI recordings are always in a flux of deletion and reissue. Batíz, live and in concert, was a conductor I found to be unpredicable, alternately as exciting as Cluytens’s Ravel or as dull as Masur’s Germans.

Palillos y panderetas (Castanets and tambourines) is a suite of three lollipops, and here Batíz wins the contest, with castanets more subtle and pointed, and rhythms more naturally flowing. The Spanish forces are by no means bad, but a little four-square.

Dos danzas españolas are ten minutes of fun, and am glad to be able to add them to my collection, as I have no other version. Lucero Tena’s castanets are recorded upfront and loud in the first, a bit disconcerting, but perhaps as the composer intended.

Per la flor del lliri blau (For the flower of the blue lily) is the showpiece here, a twenty minute toen poem, a musical equivalent of a condensed Louis B. Mayer epic. First the forces march in ‘with extreme prejudice,’ then a sadly wistful violin tells a tale accompanied by heart-wrenching but not melodramatic strings. Based on a medieval legend, the fine notes tell of “three sons of a dying king go on a quest” for the magic flower which will save their dad. I’m curious why Rodrigo used the German rather the Spanish word for blue; perhaps it was for exoticism. The ending builds like the near-end of the 1812, with bells and grinding strings. If you like the tone poems of Villa-Lobos or Smetana, you’d likely enjoy Per la flor del lliri blau as well. It has plenty of color and flavor, and is just the right length. Fanfares by the winds, martial drums, swirling strings; a tasty piece. Again, Batíz has a better-disciplined and better-recorded army, but Bragado Darman’s Spanish orchestra has more emotion, making this easier-to-find CD top Batíz, who is a mite too suave, but only my comparison.

Tres viejos aires de danza make an intersting contrast to each other. The pastoral features strings luscious as Verkläerkte Nacht, the minuet is most Mozartian, and the giga is rowdy good fun.

I was curious to hear whether A la busca del más allá (In search of what lies beyond), a sixteen minute tone poem, sounded like the Messiaen piece with a similar title. Much of it is surprisingly forward-looking, although its heritage is clearly Ravel and Stravinsky. Here the performance and sonics easily rival Batíz.