American Record Guide March/April 2004

Transcriptions of the piano works of Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) have long constituted the core of the classical guitar's repertory.
The works are so often played on the guitar that they are far better known on that instrument than in their original piano versions. But the composer's most ambitious work for keyboard - the massive, 12-movement Iberia - has long been out of reach of guitarists, its technical demands and dynamic scope far exceeding the possibilities of the instrument. The work is more amenable to transcription for multiple guitars; and individual movements, in particular the opening 'Evocacion' and 'El Puerto', have appeared from time to time on guitar ensemble programs.
The present release offers the first guitar recording of the entire suite, played by Trio Campanella (Scandinavian guitarists Christophe Dejour, Frank Massa, and Thomas Winthereik). The result is a marvel both of the transcriber's art - the transcription is Dejour's - and the guitar ensemble playing at the highest level. This is a landmark recording.

Albeniz wrote Iberia in the final three years of his life. It thus is the culmination of his stylistic development and includes his most sophisticated - and technically demanding - writing for the piano, as well as his most beguiling impressionist harmonies. Debussy wrote of the work, "Never has music achieved such diversified, such colorful impressions: one's eyes close, as though dazzled by beholding such a wealth of imagery." Albeniz was clearly influenced by Debussy, but on reading such comments it is tempting to speculate that the influence may have been reciprocal. Indeed, the miraculous parallel sonorities at the end of 'El Corpus en Sevilla' seem prophetically to foreshadow the French composer's 'Cathedrale Engloutie', written four years later.

Dejour's arrangement is a remarkable accomplishment. He expertly balances the competing demands of the score and the capabilities of the guitar, often arriving at ingenious solutions for the most frightful passages. Multivoice chords in the piano's right hand are often reduced to a single, full-bodied melodic line in the first guitar part - a simplification that both clarifies the texture and seems to sacrifice very little of the sonorous richness of the original. To be sure, in the most pianistically brilliant passages. like the showy alternating hand material in 'El Corpus en Sevilla' - much of the percussive, visceral effect of the original is lost. But in its place there is often a new clarity, a clearer demarcation of melody and accompaniment. It seems blasphemous to suggest it, but sometimes these passages even seem to have a greater lucidity here than in the recordings of Alicia de Larrocha, who, incidentally, coached the trio on the piece.
To be sure, Iberia overstays its welcome. Its 12 movements clock in a just over 77 minutes in this version, and there is simply not enough variety among the movements to sustain most listeners. But, taken individually, there is not a weak piece in the set - each one contains numerous marvels of harmony, rhythm, and variation procedure. When they are listened to one or two at a time they are truly delectable, and the Trio Campanella's superb performance gives us a new reason to return to them with fresh ears.

Steven Rings

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