Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
El amor brujo (1915-1924)
Sergueï Balasanian (1902-1982)
Iles d’Indonésie (1960)
Irina Arkhipova (mezzo-soprano)
Grand Orchestre Symphonique de la Radio de Moscou (Falla),
Orchestre Symphonique de la Radio de l’URSS (Balasanian)/Arvïds Jansons
rec. 1961, Moscow, Russia
Forgotten Records FR2189 [51]
The main attraction here will be to hear the great Russian mezzo Irina Arkhipova singing Falla’s El amor brujo. There are plenty of good recordings of this work and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Shirley Verrett with Stokowski (Sony G010001402039T), Grace Bumbry and Lorin Maazel (DG 4474142), Anna Maria Iriarte with Ataúlfo Argenta (EMI 5692352), Oralia Dominguez and Vandernoot (La Voz De Su Amo – ASDL 777) and the more recent recording of the original chamber version with Esperanza Fernández and Angel Gil-Ordóñez (review) but this current version belongs with the best of them.
I will admit to having a preference for Falla’s original version with its leaner textures. It has a more earthy charm to it, especially when sung with a true Flamenco singer like Fernández on the Naxos version mentioned above, but I still enjoy the orchestral version which has its own merits. Arvïds Jansons’ conducting suits the piece well, it is driven, colourful, powerful at climaxes, and rhythmically incisive. Stokowski might get a little more from the orchestration and Argenta has an idiomatic touch which helps enormously but orchestrally this is still a very strong and satisfying account. As for Arkhipova, she’s in superb voice, huge and resonant across the range of her instrument with a striking chest voice which is well integrated in the central octave. She was really the last of her kind, a true, old-fashioned dramatic mezzo with a superb technique, natural instrument and musicality. She is thrilling here and outdoes even the wonderful Oralia Dominguez in sheer swagger.
Sergueï Balasanian is almost forgotten today but his Iles d’Indonésie is an attractive listen, beautifully orchestrated and melodic. It’s got more in common with the romantic exoticism at that beginning of the 20th Century than most of what was being written by the 1960s but is worth a listen if this sort of music intrigues you. The opening Un soir sur l’île de Bali is especially beautiful. The work very clearly seeks to utilise Indonesian Gamelan sounds and is mostly effective though the effect is clearly dated. It is well played and conducted with much the same virtues as the Falla however it is in mono and so does not have quite the same depth of sound.
The Falla is in perfectly acceptable stereo for the early 60s and this is really as good a performance of Falla’s ballet-score as any. I wouldn’t want to be without the recording of it in it’s earlier form but would not be dismayed if this were my only interpretation of the full-orchestra version. The Balasanian work is an attractive curiosity and this appears to be its only recording so it’s worth having. The accompanying documentation is non-existent, no specific recording dates or programme notes about anything, just a front and back cover with basic information.
Morgan Burroughs
Availability: Forgotten Records
