Inspired by purchase of the old Ronald Crichton BBC monograph on Manuel de Falla I've been revisiting my recordings and trying to plug the gaps. Not as easy as it should be!
Seems to me that poor old MdeF got a lot of things hugely wrong if he wanted to keep his full output available on disc, and indeed performed in the concert hall. How so? Principally, works of dodgy genre, unusual scoring, the wrong length. EG:
- Three-Cornered Hat, a short but not very short ballet needing orchestra plus solo soprano,
- El Amor Brujo, another mid-length ballet, another solo singer, and best heard in the original small-orch/ large-chamber version, which it usually isn't;
- La Vida Breve, a one-act opera with no obvious companion-piece to make a full evening, unlike similar beasts from the Italian stable. The tenor love/lust-interest gets, I believe, no aria and just one duet. But hey, when did audiences ever go to the opera just for the tenor?
- Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a concerto-length piece in 3 mov'ts but no slow mov't (one may have got dropped). Symphonic poem? Illustrative concertante mood-music, or what? (Rhetorical Q to highlight a problem, not to seek an 'answer'!)
- Master Peter's Puppet Show - where to start?? A chamber opera(?) about the staging of a ballet, for puppets on two different planes of 'reality', weird scoring, and a boy soprano to hold it all together as narrator. Yeah, that'll work! And once again a work of, ahem, intermediate length...
- Harpsichord concerto. For keyboard obviously (hpschd or piano, helpfully). And orchestra? No, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello. And it all lasts less than 15 mins IIRC! And where these days does one get the Landowska-style concert-grand harpsichord that the piece absolutely demands? And what else gets played on it for the rest of the concert without a gross HIPP violation??
- Psyche. A little scena lasting less than 5 mins for soprano and 5 instruments. Any chance it'll go with the Concerto? Nope, of course not! This baby will use the flute, violin and cello, but also demands viola and harp
"I could go on but I rests me case yer honour(s)!"
Returning to the gaps in my collection, I've just ordered Master Peter (do hope it includes text and translation!), La Vida Breve (ditto), complete piano music (conveniently scored by the master for just solo piano
) and some slightly weirder stuff. Anyone now care to tell me which Master Peter I should have ordered???
[Oh damn, I've forgotten to mention his final master-work, Atlantida. Very few problems with this of course
]
Seems to me that poor old MdeF got a lot of things hugely wrong if he wanted to keep his full output available on disc, and indeed performed in the concert hall. How so? Principally, works of dodgy genre, unusual scoring, the wrong length. EG:
- Three-Cornered Hat, a short but not very short ballet needing orchestra plus solo soprano,
- El Amor Brujo, another mid-length ballet, another solo singer, and best heard in the original small-orch/ large-chamber version, which it usually isn't;
- La Vida Breve, a one-act opera with no obvious companion-piece to make a full evening, unlike similar beasts from the Italian stable. The tenor love/lust-interest gets, I believe, no aria and just one duet. But hey, when did audiences ever go to the opera just for the tenor?
- Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a concerto-length piece in 3 mov'ts but no slow mov't (one may have got dropped). Symphonic poem? Illustrative concertante mood-music, or what? (Rhetorical Q to highlight a problem, not to seek an 'answer'!)
- Master Peter's Puppet Show - where to start?? A chamber opera(?) about the staging of a ballet, for puppets on two different planes of 'reality', weird scoring, and a boy soprano to hold it all together as narrator. Yeah, that'll work! And once again a work of, ahem, intermediate length...
- Harpsichord concerto. For keyboard obviously (hpschd or piano, helpfully). And orchestra? No, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello. And it all lasts less than 15 mins IIRC! And where these days does one get the Landowska-style concert-grand harpsichord that the piece absolutely demands? And what else gets played on it for the rest of the concert without a gross HIPP violation??
- Psyche. A little scena lasting less than 5 mins for soprano and 5 instruments. Any chance it'll go with the Concerto? Nope, of course not! This baby will use the flute, violin and cello, but also demands viola and harp
"I could go on but I rests me case yer honour(s)!"
Returning to the gaps in my collection, I've just ordered Master Peter (do hope it includes text and translation!), La Vida Breve (ditto), complete piano music (conveniently scored by the master for just solo piano
) and some slightly weirder stuff. Anyone now care to tell me which Master Peter I should have ordered???[Oh damn, I've forgotten to mention his final master-work, Atlantida. Very few problems with this of course
]
]
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