SACD Fritz Reiner – Spain

Spain as a hybrid multichannel SACD from Analogue Productions’ RCA Living Stereo series: Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Granados, Falla and Albéniz, remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analogue three-track tapes.

Spain as a palette of orchestral colours

Spain is not a single composition but a chosen view of Spanish music. Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra bring together Granados, Falla and Albéniz in a programme that moves between theatre, dance and musical images of place. Its variety is part of the thrill: no uniform mood holds the record together – the orchestra’s gift for telling different gestures apart does.

Recorded in 1958 during Reiner’s Chicago years, the album gathers music of very different origins under its simple title. An operatic intermezzo stands beside ballet music, while piano compositions appear in orchestral dress. Keeping those origins in mind turns the programme into more than a string of picturesque miniatures: it becomes a study in different ways of building a musical scene.

Theatre without a visible stage

Granados’ intermezzo from Goyescas opens one route into the programme. Falla is represented by La vida breve and dances from The Three-Cornered Hat – music born in settings where movement and drama have specific roles. On disc there is no scenery and no action; the orchestra alone guides your attention through sound and timing.

That makes the less conspicuous details worth following. How is a dance rhythm prepared? Which section takes up a figure, and which answers it? Why does a repetition feel different even when the material is familiar? Beneath the music’s immediate appeal lies a detailed interplay of weight, articulation and colour.

Albéniz begins at the piano

“Fête-Dieu à Séville” and “Triana” start somewhere else entirely: both belong to Albéniz’s piano cycle Iberia, heard here in orchestral versions by Enrique Fernández Arbós. Piano textures are shared out among the instruments, and lines that two hands must hold together separate into individual colours. “Fête-Dieu à Séville” refers to Seville’s Corpus Christi procession, “Triana” to the city’s district – titles that orient you without reducing the music to a postcard.

One detail is easily blurred by album programming: “Navarra” does not belong to the completed Iberia cycle. The pieces often appear together on records, but a work and a programme are different things – a thoughtful selection rather than the composer’s own order. Listen to the transitions between these musical worlds: the journey happens inside the orchestra, through changes of texture, movement and perspective.

The RCA Living Stereo hybrid SACD

CAPC 2230 SA is a hybrid multichannel SACD (three-channel stereo) from Analogue Productions’ RCA Living Stereo series. According to the publisher, Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound remastered it from the original analogue three-track tapes. For the three-channel programme you need a multichannel-capable SACD player and a matching setup; the CD layer plays on any conventional CD player. The disc contains Granados, Falla and Albéniz, from the Goyescas intermezzo to “Triana”.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: RCA Living Stereo Series

Also in another edition: Spain

Artist page: All titles by Fritz Reiner

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Named soloists, conductors and ensembles. The album credits do not individually name every orchestra member.

• Fritz ReinerConductor
• Chicago Symphony OrchestraOrchestra