The Iberia suite of Isaac Albéniz, like nothing else in the literature, blends a turn-of-the-20th century Impressionist sensibility with Lisztian piano pyrotechnics. The pianist who captured this blend like no other was Alicia de Larrocha, who recorded the work multiple times and won major awards each time. Yet her recordings no longer reflect the sonic state of the art. Worth consideration for a modern reading is this live performance from 2021 by Nelson Goerner (there is occasional ambient noise but no applause), who, ...
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The Iberia suite of Isaac Albéniz, like nothing else in the literature, blends a turn-of-the-20th century Impressionist sensibility with Lisztian piano pyrotechnics. The pianist who captured this blend like no other was Alicia de Larrocha, who recorded the work multiple times and won major awards each time. Yet her recordings no longer reflect the sonic state of the art. Worth consideration for a modern reading is this live performance from 2021 by Nelson Goerner (there is occasional ambient noise but no applause), who, despite his Anglo-German name, is of Hispanic background (he points to his Argentine birth as something contributing to his affinity for the work). Iberia might be described as densely pictorial. The 12 pieces are portraits of different places and scenes in Spain, and they are etched in considerable musical detail that Goerner follows carefully. He introduces the tempo rubato one would expect from a Chopin specialist, but it never calls attention to itself. In the really finger-busting...
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