{"id":1255,"date":"2018-12-19T13:58:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T18:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2018-12-20T21:04:23","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T02:04:23","slug":"falla-and-flamenco-the-birth-of-spanish-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2018\/12\/falla-and-flamenco-the-birth-of-spanish-music.html","title":{"rendered":"Falla and Flamenco &#8212; &#8220;The Birth of Spanish Music&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pedro Carbone plays Iberia: Rondena (4\/12)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v85Npd_pB3w?start=22&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to my friend the remarkably loquacious Spanish pianist Pedro Carbon\u00e9, the \u201cbirth of Spanish music\u201d occurs during the third of Manuel de Falla\u2019s <em>Nights in the Gardens of Spain<\/em>. Pedro made this argument at length on our most recent \u201cPostClassical\u201d broadcast: \u201cFalla and Flamenco.\u201d And he clinched it by citing his distinctive live performance of this piece with PostClassical Ensemble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can hear what Pedro\u2019s talking about by gong to 1:03:00&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wwfm.org\/post\/falla-and-flamenco-three-hour-postclassical-friday-night-8-pm\">here<\/a>.<\/strong> Bill McGlaughlin, who hosts \u201cPostClassical,\u201d was duly impressed. He called the birth-moment in question \u201cheart-stopping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like so much of Spanish culture, Falla (1876-1946) embodied a confluence of Moorish, North African, and Catholic ingredients. As Pedro experiences <em>Nights in the Gardens of Spain<\/em>, movement one \u2013 a fragrant tone poem evoking the Alhambra\u2019s iconic Generalife gardens \u2013 shows \u201cwhat Spain was\u201d: Moorish. In movement two, \u201cthe gypsies arrive\u201d with an exotic song juxtaposed with a Moorish dance. And movement three is a fusion: the music \u201cnever heard before.\u201d The work\u2019s exalted coda tracks the departure of the Moors. It\u2019s an inspired reading \u2013 and so is Pedro\u2019s actual performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pedro\u2019s gift for descriptive aplomb peaks with his detailed explication of another, more rarified Falla composition: the Concerto for harpsichord or piano. This is \u201clate Falla,\u201d meticulously and painstakingly composed in 1923-26 &#8212; by which time Falla had discarded the flamenco influence that previously impelled his ceaseless search for the Spanish soul. Here is a composition that usually makes no sense in performance. The reason, as Pedro shows, is that Falla is in fact undertaking an \u201cencapsulation of the history of Spanish music.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concerto\u2019s first movement fractures \u2013almost as Stravinsky might \u2013 a famous medieval Spanish song: \u201cDe los alamos vengo, madre.\u201d The second movement, called by Ravel the greatest chamber music of the twentieth century, is an austere religious epiphany \u2013 an homage to the stark Catholic grandeur of the <em>siglo de oro<\/em>. The finale celebrates the Spanish harpsichord school of the eighteenth century: Scarlatti and Soler. And of all of this, Pedro adds, is couched \u201cin the language of the twentieth century.\u201d Falla skips the nineteenth century \u2013 the century of zarzuela \u2013 because he disdains it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PostClassical Ensemble has many times presented the Falla concerto with Pedro, conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez. We quickly discovered that audiences were clueless unless we contextualized this dense fifteen-minute identity quest precisely as Pedro does. So to introduce movement one we of course perform \u201cDe los alamos.\u201d For movement two Angel conducts motets by Tomas Luis d Victoria. And we combine the finale with some Soler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s all on our \u201cPostClassical\u201d broadcast.\u201c And you can hear Bill McGlaughlin discover the originality of this rarely performed masterpiece; responding to movement two, he exclaims: &#8220;I have to admit, that piece is really hard for me to understand. I hear about seven different directions in it&#8221; &#8212; ranging, Bill continues, from music resembling a Lutheran chorale, to mellifluous cascades he likens to Saint-Saens, to &#8220;some really cold, acerbic modern stuff.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pedro makes an even more revelatory statement, to my ears, in Falla\u2019s <em>Fantasia<\/em> <em>Betica<\/em>, composed in 1919. It\u2019s the last of his flamenco-inspired creations, and the most radically harsh in its quest for authenticity. As Pedro explains, Falla conceived it as a corrective to his &#8220;Ritual Fire Dance,&#8221; which he heard Artur Rubinstein perform as a flashy encore. He decided to give Rubinstein a virtuoso solo keyboard piece with more pianistic and musical substance. Rubinstein played the <em>Betica<\/em> once and never again \u2013 it\u2019s not intended for popularity. Pedro\u2019s rendition is weighty and hard; it treats flamenco with the same gravitas as Falla did. You can hear it on part two of our <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wwfm.org\/post\/falla-and-flamenco-three-hour-postclassical-friday-night-8-pm#stream\/0\">broadcast<\/a><\/strong>, at 12:41. If you\u2019re interested in sampling an antithetical reading, swifter and wondrously refined, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Wf6g-NGLhc4\">here<\/a><\/strong> is Alicia de Larrocha. But Pedro will have none of that: \u201cDon\u2019t rush!\u201d he explodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The overall argument is that austerity defines Spain. For Pedro and Angel, the aestheticization of \u201cSpain\u201d by such French composers as Bizet, Debussy, Ravel, and Chabrier is precisely \u201cFrench,\u201d not \u201cSpanish.\u201d And their Falla performances follow suit. I have written about this before, in my <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2010\/03\/reconnecting_with_spanish_mode.html\">2010 blog<\/a><\/strong>, &#8220;The Problem with De Larrocha.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Angel therefore regards Victoria, not Falla, as Spain\u2019s greatest composer: a musician as austere as the Escorial itself. Assessing the reinvention of Spanish music undertaken by Falla at the turn of the twentieth century, he references Spain\u2019s loss of its colonial empire and the birth of \u201c<em>modernismo<\/em>\u201d \u2013 for Spanish artists and intellectuals, a striving to reconnect with mainstream European aesthetic innovation after a century of insular provincialism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This topic is owned by the pre-eminent contemporary Spanish novelist: Antonio Munoz Molina, who happens to be a frequent participant in PostClassical\u2019s ongoing \u201cSearch for Spain in Music.\u201d Antonio emphasizes the initial energy of Spanish modernism, reminding us that Berg\u2019s Violin Concerto was premiered in Spain and that Schoenberg composed some of <em>Moses und Aron<\/em> in Barcelona. Then came the elephant in the room \u2013 Francisco Franco. <em>Modernismo<\/em> was prematurely terminated. And Falla emigrated to Argentina, where his creative gift lapsed. He belongs in the company of Ives, Elgar, and Sibelius \u2013 all composers who stopped composing long before they stopped living. All of them, I would say, were estranged by twentieth century aesthetics. In Falla\u2019s case, the impact of Stravinsky seems to have shattered his stylistic base. The Concerto was one result. His two final decades of relative silence were another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our broadcast ends with another Spanish composer Pedro Carbon\u00e9 re-understands: Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909). Like Falla, Albeniz undertook a renewed search for Spain. Like Falla, he embodies a confluence privileging flamenco. Like Falla, he is both popular and little understood, at least in theUS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A central problem is Enrique Arbos \u2013 the eminent Spanish conductor who transcribed five movements from Albeniz\u2019s solo piano masterpiece: <em>Iberia<\/em> (1905-1909). When I was young, the Arbos versions of <em>Iberia<\/em> were more heard than the Albeniz versions. And they are radically different: so simplified in texture and affect as to approximate a Hollywood reductionism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The real <em>Iberia<\/em> is monumentally dense. Olivier Messiaen called it \u201cthe wonder of the piano, the masterpiece of Spanish music which takes its place \u2013 and perhaps the highest \u2013 among the stars of first magnitude of the king of instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s the <em>Iberia<\/em> Pedro champions. No one makes this music sound more knotted or unrelenting. Again, the antithesis is de Larrocha. On our &#8220;PostClassical&#8221; broadcast, you can sample Arbos\u2019s technicolored rendering of \u201cTriana,\u201d from <em>Iberia<\/em> book two. And you can hear Pedro\u2019s \u201cTriana.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the WWFM studio, Pedro collapsed in pain during our audition of Arbos\u2019s Albeniz. He recuperated to introduce \u201cRondena,\u201d also from <em>Iberia<\/em> book two. It is my favorite Carbon\u00e9 performance. Whether or not it captures the soul of Spain I cannot say. That it is authentically soulful I have no doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Albeniz studied with Liszt. Falla was an appreciable keyboardist; you can hear his premiere recording of his Concerto on our radio show. They both wrote for the piano as only a pianist could. In the lineage of notable pianist\/composers, Albeniz and Falla belong right up there with Mozart and Beethoven, with Liszt and Busoni, with Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. To my ears, their most singular \u2013 and most voluble &#8212; advocate is Pedro Carbon\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cFalla and Flamenco\u201d installment of\u201cPostClassical,\u201d lovingly produced by Dave Osenberg for the WWFM ClassicalNetwork, is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwfm.org\/post\/falla-and-flamenco-three-hour-postclassical-friday-night-8-pm#stream\/0\">here<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwfm.org\/post\/falla-and-flamenco-three-hour-postclassical-friday-night-8-pm#stream\/0\">.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Listening Guide:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PART ONE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>00:00: Flamenco as a source for Spanish cultural identity<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>7:30: \u201cAusterity\u201d as the \u201cessence\u201d of Spanish music, distinguishing it from the French \u201cSpanish\u201d style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>10:48: Falla\u2019s <em>El Amor Brujo<\/em> (excerpts) with PCE and flamenco cantaora Esperanza Fernandez<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>21:20: Commentary on Falla\u2019s <em>Nights in the Gardens of Spain <\/em>and \u201cthe birth of Spanish music\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>26:32: Falla\u2019s <em>Nights in the Gardens of Spain<\/em>, movement one, with Pedro Carbone and PCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>44:45: Commentary on <em>Nights<\/em>, movements 2 and 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>49:44: <em>Nights<\/em>, movements 2 and 3, with Pedro Carbone and PCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1:03:00: \u201cThe first Spanish tune\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PART TWO:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>00:00: Falla\u2019s <em>Fantasia Betica<\/em> and the \u201cquest for authenticity\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>12:41: <em>Fantasia Betica<\/em>, performed by Pedro Carbone<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>27:24: Artur Rubinstein and the <em>Fantasia<\/em> <em>Betica<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>33:44: Falla and the challenge of modernism; cf Ives, Elgar, Sibelius; the Falla keyboard concerto as the \u201cencapsulation of the history of Spanish music\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>35:41: Discussion of the Falla concerto, movement 2 as a religious epiphany<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>38:59: Falla concerto, movement 2, performed by Pedro Carbone and PCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>49:50: Spanish religious austerity &#8212; Tomas Luis de Victoria: &#8220;Caligaverunt oculi mei&#8221; conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>55:40: \u201cDe los alamos vengo, madre\u201d and the Falla concerto<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>56:40: Falla concerto, movement 1, performed by the composer<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1:01:53: Falla concerto, movement 1, performed by Pedro Carbone and PCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1:07:53: Soler and the Falla concerto<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1:10:50: Falla concerto, movement 3, performed by Pedro Carbone and PCE <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PART THREE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4:24: \u201cTriana\u201d by Abeniz, transcribed\/performed\nby Enrique Arbos<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>15:26: \u201cTriana\u201d performed by Pedro Carbone<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>25:46: Francisco Franco as \u201cthe elephant in the room\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>32:07: \u201cRondena\u201d by Albeniz, performed by Pedro Carbone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to my friend the remarkably loquacious Spanish pianist Pedro Carbon\u00e9, the \u201cbirth of Spanish music\u201d occurs during the third of Manuel de Falla\u2019s Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Pedro made this argument at length on our most recent \u201cPostClassical\u201d broadcast: \u201cFalla and Flamenco.\u201d And he clinched it by citing his distinctive live performance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/download.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-kf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1268,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions\/1268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}