BaL 18.02.17 - Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez

[Richard Tarleton]

I think it's all he played after 1963.....

[Richard Tarleton]

In my ignorance I thought this was a work that more or less played itself with not much scope for interpretative variation.

Thanks to johnb (in another place) for a pointer to an excellent Gramophone article on the subject which underlines the sheer variety of interpretations on offer.

[oddoneout]

The Miles Davis version appeared on Private Passions yesterday, together with Mt Berkeley's admission that he preferred it to the original...

[Richard Tarleton]

The Miles Davis version appeared on Private Passions yesterday, together with Mt Berkeley's admission that he preferred it to the original...

I've only ever heard the Adagio of that version, and I couldn't stand much of that.... I'm surprised at MB. Why not say you prefer the slow movement of the Mendelssohn violin concerto, or the Dvorak cello concerto, played on the trumpet. Where does it end? It's all about the guitar. Tho' this guy is explaining (in Spanish) why the flamenco version is closer to the spirit of the thing - classical performances metrical rather than rhythmic, think about where the music comes from.....(don't agree with him, but rather this than the trumpet )

[Alison]

Just bumping up to the top in readiness.

[Beef Oven!]

Does anyone know if the outer movements have ever been played on Classic FM?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Alert!

[BBMmk2]

Does anyone know if the outer movements have ever been played on Classic FM?

Laughing out loud!!!

[Beef Oven!]

I found that BaL interesting and informative. The music is, I guess, not really my cup of tea. I still prefer Miles Davis and I shan’t add to my collection beyond what I mention in post #22. In the end, I couldn’t help thinking, 'thank God someone invented the electric guitar'.

[BBMmk2]

I found that BaL interesting and informative. The music is, I guess, not really my cup of tea. I still prefer Miles Davis and I shan’t add to my collection beyond what I mention in post #22. In the end, I couldn’t help thinking, 'thank God someone invented the electric guitar'.

.......and Miles Davis!

[Beef Oven!]

.......and Miles Davis!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I still prefer the harp version.

[Bryn]

So Pepe still rules the roost, eh? I slept through this BaL but might catch it later.

[DracoM]

Miles Davis totally steals the show indeed. Bought it way back and cannot now listen to guitar versions.
Davis sees in it the darkness and desperation that seems to haunt so much Spanish music, despite the high-voltage determination to dance.

[Richard Tarleton]

An excellent BAL, I thought. Tom's choice of versions, and his insights into those, were well-judged, and I learnt a lot from it. New to me was the version by Renata Tarragó, the first woman to record it (in 1959) and the first recorded version according to Tom by someone who could actually play the Concierto - he may well be right, though it would have been nice in the spirit of BAL historical versions to have included a clip from the first, 1948, Regino Sainz de la Maza recording, especially as he gave the first performance. It had an outing on R3 last year, when some guest or other requested it. I guess the Ida Presti recording of the Concierto must go down as one of history's if-onlys.

I loved Tom's pithy one line (or one word) summations of some performances - Ricardo Gallen (reticent - why no strumming? Don't try to be clever), Siegfried Behrens (manic), Paco de Lucía's flamenco version (bland ) , Narciso Yepes (uphill struggle, on the later versions), Xuefe Yang (beautifully judged push and pull), Milos ((super slick, far too perfect, and a nod to the cor anglais solo by Sue Böhling) etc. etc. He even quoted Alison at one point (talking about the third movement - "plays itself" ). Real insights into the performances. You couldn't go wrong with his choice of short list and his final version - well, fair enough.

I really think Tom overstated the debt the piece's recording history (I think that was his point) owes to Miles Davis. Perhaps this was in the interests of an arresting start to the review, but I've known the Concierto for 50 years, and managed never to have heard of Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain album until today. A gap in my education obviously, but C de A was doing quite well before 1960. Apart from de la Maza, Yepes and Presti, Julian Bream was playing it on the BBC by 1951, and by the time he recorded it for the first time in 1964 he was recording what he, not the record company (in his case RCA) wanted. The lack of a recording before 1948 (Tom seemed to think things went a bit quiet on the 1940s) was not altogether surprising given what else was going on in Spain, and Europe, in the 1940s. And Segovia had only himself to blame for not being part of the Concierto's history, as he was living in Uruguay in the late 30s. What did he expect Rodrigo to have done? That tale brings out some of the less lovable aspects of Segovia's personality.

And finally - his reference to Goya's Pilgrimage of San Isidro sent me to my copy of Robert Hughes's Goya - it has never occurred to me that the image was guitar-shaped, nor seemingly to Robert Hughes, who spends three pages discussing it. It's not what the picture is about at all. The guy in front is playing the guitar - sort of....