This is a pretty droopy selection of Falla favorites. El amor brujo isn’t done complete: with no singer on hand Adrian Leaper either leaves the songs out (the first two) or assigns them to instruments (the conclusion). Mushy orchestral playing takes all the sting out of Falla’s Gypsy rhythms, and the resultant “suite” hardly serves the work to best effect. Jorge Castro is an adequate soloist in Nights in the Gardens of Spain, but after an evocative opening the performance bogs down in heavy-handed pianism and less-than-atmospheric orchestral textures, particularly in the second and third movements. The suite from The Three-Cornered Hat suffers from the same debilities. Indeed, it’s hard to believe that these are Spanish players, leading us to conclude that the blame for these sexless, denatured interpretations lies squarely with the guy on the podium. You can do better from just about everyone, never mind the reference recordings noted above.
