Albeniz: The French Connection

Isaac Albeniz arrived in France around 1894, found it congenial, and stayed there for much of the rest of his life. His French-language songs (untranslated in the booklet here) subtly combine his Spanish nationalist style with the music he heard around him. Here Argentine-born mezzo soprano Marisa Martins attempts to unpack this idea a little more by programming Albeniz's songs alongside those of Ravel, Debussy, and Faure, and concluding with music by Falla, representing the next stage of this French-Spanish music. The idea is a good one, not only bringing to life the Albeniz songs but presenting the whole little nexus in a convincing way. The wild card here is Martins' voice, which listeners are encouraged to sample on the probability that they will either love it or hate it. Some might even go back and forth, finding its odd, clarinet-like tone off-putting at first, relaxing into it and appreciating the clear top as the program proceeds, having doubts again during the rather shrill, unhumorous sounds of Ravel's Histoires naturelles, and warming up once again simply because the whole project is adventurous and never once dull. Recommended for lovers of the fin de siecle.