Very exciting performances -- the Ritmos is especially thril
Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 09/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album of Turina works conducted by Antonio Almeida packs a lot of excitement in its 60+ minutes. It's probably the best all-Turina disk out there. The performances are so effective, it almost makes you think Turina was an equal talent to his contemporaneous compatriots deFalla and Albeniz.
The most famous work here is the Danzas Fantasticas. Almeida does a very nice job with them -- fully up to the level of Ernest Ansermet on London/Decca or Enrique Batiz on EMI. The Procesion del Rocio and the Sinfonia Sevillana are also highly effective ... Almeida makes these works sound more exciting than one typically hears. Even if you already know them well, hearing them here will bring back the old excitement you probably felt the first time around.
But the biggest thrill comes with the less well-known Ritmos, a suite of six dances that are played to perfection, each selection building on the other until we reach the penultimate Danza Exotica. There, Almeida whips his orchestral forces to a rousing conclusion, accentuated by one of the loudest, most penetrating bass drum thwacks you're ever likely to hear on CD. It's guaranteed to rattle your windows! The Bamberg Symphony plays better on this CD than on any other of theirs I've heard -- they really are with the conductor every step of the way.
If you were to purchase only one set of Turina works, this is clearly the one to buy.
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