Naxos already has a version of Granados’ Spanish Dances transcribed (unsuccessfully) for guitar and orchestra, and this newcomer for orchestra alone doesn’t improve matters. First, the transcriptions themselves by Rafael Ferrer are only marginally interesting at best. They rely far too heavily on the strings (with brass and winds relegated to a supporting role) and a very irritating use of tenor drum (or snare-less side drum) to tap out the rhythm of whatever anyone else happens to be playing (check out dances 8, 10, and 12 in particular). Short on both color and imagination, the settings fail to make a case for these pieces as orchestral works.
And then there’s the performance. It’s often the case that orchestral transcriptions wind up being slower in tempo than piano originals, a function of the larger ensemble’s heavier sound and more limited flexibility of pulse. Still, that’s no excuse for conductor Salvador Brotons’ tedious direction here. He has a very amateurish habit of slowing down at the ends of phrases before moving on (obvious right away in the first two dances, and a dreary mannerism thereafter), and in particular makes very hesitant going of Nos. 5, 6, 8 (particularly dully orchestrated too), and 11. Granted, a couple of his tempos are (exceptionally) a bit faster than, say, Alicia De Larrocha’s piano renditions, but his stop-and-start conducting effectively minimizes any sense of accumulating energy or momentum.
This is all the more unfortunate because the playing of the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (a single group with a long name, not two separate ensembles combined) is very polished, and the recorded sound is both naturally balanced and clear. If Naxos wants to get serious about a Spanish music series (something suggested by the little Spanish flag and “Spanish Classics” appellation on the tray card), there’s plenty of very good orchestral music by any number of appealing 20th century Spanish composers to choose from before giving undeserved attention to uninteresting transcriptions such as this. For instance, there hasn’t been a new recording of Turina’s largest orchestral work, the Canto a Sevilla, since Victoria de los Angeles did it way back in the mid-1950s in mono. So why bother with this artistic non-happening?
