Turina: Danzas Fantasticas / Danzas Gitanas / Danzas Andaluzas

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Cat No: 8557150

Release Date: 01 November 2004

Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313215027

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: TURINA

Description
Joaquin Turina (1882-1949): Piano Music 1Danzas fantasticas Danzas gitanas Danzas andaluzasJoaquin Turina was one of a group of twentieth-centurycomposers, the others being de Falla, Albeniz, Granadosand Mompou, who made an outstanding contribution toSpanish piano repertoire. Unlike his four compatriots,however, committed to the development of Spanishmusical nationalism, Turina created his own personalmusical world. Like the painter Joaquin Sorolla, whoselight-filled works took their inspiration from local scenes,Turina borrowed and reworked traditional elements inorchestral works such as Sinfonia sevillana and Laprocesion del Rocio, armed with the rigorous technicalcommand acquired at the conservative Paris ScholaCantorum, under Moritz Moszkowski and Vincentd'Indy, while making use of his own notable talents as apianist.'A musician from head to toe, he was so ordinary inthe way he lived and thought, never straying from thestrict working methods and timetable he imposed onhimself, that he seemed to belie all theories that artists aresupposed to be irresponsible, even slightly unbalanced',wrote his friend Maria Lejarraga. Yet Turina was morethan a conservative composer and supporter of Franco (hereceived various honours from the regime, which heopenly supported from 1939 to his death); he was an artistof fertile inspiration, the creator of a large number ofskilfully constructed works, the best of which are for hispreferred instrument, the piano.Almost all Turina's piano works, of which there areover a hundred, are short, almost miniature pieces, few ofthem more than five minutes long. Turina himselfexplained this as follows: 'Despite having studied withVincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum, I knew, or ratherI learned from Albeniz, that no pure form, even post-Romanticism, was attainable for Spanish composers.Falla thought the same and, not being weighed down byany foreign criteria, we have been able to take differentpaths'.As a proud Andalusian, Turina openly admitted thelocal inspiration behind his work: 'The enduringparameters I felt to be guiding my work actuallycorrespond to something very informal: the Andalusianlandscape ... I have been able to move freely within thembecause of my in-depth Schola training'. His descriptivemusic, however, renounces specific programmes andformal discipline. He himself stated, 'I want to sing oflove and sadness, searching out that little corner of theAndalusian spirit that looks out to the wider world; I havelived part of my life dreaming, because I as a musicianlove melody. There, tragedy loses its heart-rending edge,dance becomes purer and wine is only perfume. I cannotsit at the piano with a transcendental melody. I sing whatpleases me and I feel a response.'All the dances included here clearly reflect theaesthetic qualities of a frequently misunderstoodcomposer, whose works have struggled for decades to bevalued for more than their most superficial picturesqueelements. Closer listening reveals these to b
Tracklisting