If Goyescas represents the public, theatrical side of Granados’ temperament, the six Escenas Románticas are relatively personal and inward. Though less well-known, the Bocetos and Cuentos de la juventud (the latter might be described as Granados’ answer to Schumann’s Kinderszenen) surely will attract those who respond to this composer’s vivacious romanticism and smoky range of colors. Who knows why these 1994 recordings took nine years to see the light of day; still, better now than never.
Praising Alicia de Larrocha in this repertoire is tantamount to giving fresh air a good review. At 71, her lush, cantabile style and multi-tiered articulation are just about as intact as in her previous recorded Escenas Románticas forays. Listen to the Allegretto’s deliciously differentiated imitative writing, the broad, organic rubatos that heighten the Allegro Appassionato’s lava-like expressive qualities, or to the elegant understatement the pianist breathes into each of the Cuentos de la juventud. Not that she lacks rhythmic verve when needed, as the concluding “Marcha” proves, with its unwitting allusions to Schubert’s F minor Moment Musical.
Picky Larrocha fans might argue that the pianist had lost a modicum of her erstwhile dynamic range and fire by the late-’80s/early-’90s (her 1985 Escenas Románticas on Decca are just a little more incisive). RCA’s warmer engineering, however, wins me over in the long run, together with Harris Goldsmith’s superb booklet notes. [9/15/2003]
