Manuel de Falla (1876 – 1946), Nights in the Gardens of Spain (Noches en los jardines de España) for piano and orchestra (1909-1916)
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; Francois-Joel Thiollier piano; conductor Antoni Wit
00:00 – No. 1 En el Generalife
10:40 – No. 2 Danze lejana
15:43 – No. 3 En los jardines de la Sierra de Cordoba
Manuel de Falla, born in Cádiz in 1876, studied in Madrid, where he was a pupil of the leading nationalist composer Pedrell. In 1907 he went to Paris, finding there an ambience that suited him very well. It was here that he first planned Nights in the Gardens of Spain, conceived originally as a series of pieces for solo piano, until Ricardo Viñes, the Catalan pianist, teacher of Poulenc and leading exponent of contemporary French and Spanish music, persuaded him to adopt the form of a work in three movements for piano and orchestra. De Falla wrote the work after his return to Spain in 1914, dedicating it to Ricardo Vines. The first performance was given in Madrid in April 1916 with the pianist José Cubiles, under the direction of Enrique Fernandez Arbós. It was introduced to London audiences in 1921, when the composer appeared as soloist. These so-called symphonic impressions are less symphonic than impressionistic, starting with an evocative depiction of the gardens of the Generalife near the Alhambra, monument to the Moorish rule of Granada. The Danza lejana (Distant Dance) of the second movement leads to the final impression of the gardens of la Sierra de Córdoba. The composer himself settled in Granada, after his return from Paris, investigating and absorbing there the spirit of Andalusia, of which the whole work is redolent.
(Naxos)