Enrique Granados: A Musical Portrait (review)

Though Enrique Granados (1867–1916) was well-known in his native Barcelona, few of his works were published or often performed during his lifetime. The tripartite nature of his career includes: (1) a significant musical contribution to the development of a national Spanish school; (2) successful performances in the concert halls of Spain and France; and (3) the establishment in 1901 of the Academia Granados, which became an important venue for chamber music. This inaugural, 2-disc, DVD musical documentary of Granados’s life and works is a fine addition to the body of work about the Catalan composer and pianist because it highlights a variety of his works, including the Valsas Poeticos, Romanza for violin and piano, and a guitar transcription of The Maja de Goya, in addition to a robust selection of excerpts from Goyescas. The first disc of the set is a 49-minute lecture/ performance documentary of the composer’s life narrated by musicologist/ pianists Douglas Riva, Walter Aaron Clark, and Adam Kent; enhanced with commentary by John Milton, Mirian Conti, and Monica Pages. Douglas Riva’s recordings of the complete piano works of Granados have won critical acclaim in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Riva also is the Assistant Director of the eighteen-volume critical edition of the Complete Works for Piano of Enrique Granados, edited by Alicia de Larrocha. Dr. Walter Aaron Clark is an expert in the music of Spain and Latin America and founder/director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music at the University of California, Riverside. Also an expert in Spanish music, Dr. Adam Kent has lectured at The Juilliard School, the Mannes College of Music, and the Foundation for Iberian Music at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he presented the inaugural lecture-recital on Enrique Granados in honor of Alicia de Larrocha. John Milton is a graduate of Princeton University and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Milton spent six years investigating the life of Enrique Granados.

While the performances and commentary are excellent, abrupt scene changes and voice-overs during musical selections in Disc 1 distract the viewer and mar the overall quality of the presentation. The visual art of Francesco Goya, family photographs, news clippings, and architectural examples that inspired Granados are first rate; however, the grainy quality of some of the images in video is mediocre. Troubling, too, are the mechanics of the documentary. Commentators’ wardrobe choices and prominent product placement of each narrator’s recent book about Granados weakens the integrity of the enterprise. The music, however, is of the highest caliber and worthy of consideration.

Partly derived from earlier sketches, the Goyescas were inspired by Goya’s tapestry cartoons portraying the colorful “majos” and “majas” of his day. The best-known movement of Goyescas, “La maja y el ruiseñor,” is one of only a few Granados works to incorporate a genuine folksong, since he often elected to compose his own. Douglas Riva gives an outstanding performance of the original piano version of the piece at the end of Disc 2. The integration and use of original manuscripts, archival photographs, commentary by well-known musicologists and performers, and quality performances brings to bear the significance of the composer’s contribution to music history.