- Audio CD (2 July 2001)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: CD
- Label: Naxos
- ASIN: B00005MFGY
- Other Editions: MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 321,427 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. Concerto fo Piano and Orchestra, No. 3 - Serebrier Barcelona So |
| 2. Concierto Magico for Guitar and Orchestra - Serebrier Barcelona So |
| 3. Music for Flute and Orchestra - Serebrier Barcelona So |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Leonardo Balada's concerti presented here sound modern but not avant-gardistic.
In fact this music owes much to Stravinsky and Falla, especially in the transparent,
almost baroque-like scoring. Spanish influences can be found mostly in (you guessed)
the guitar concerto; sample the imaginative use of percussion to suggest flamenco
dancing. The piano concerto is more cosmopolitan, while the Flute Music is the most
harmonically daring of the set. All of the music is essentially sunny and optimistic,
without any hint of academism. Those who want to explore some contemporary yet eminently
listenable music should definitely check this out.
In fact this music owes much to Stravinsky and Falla, especially in the transparent,
almost baroque-like scoring. Spanish influences can be found mostly in (you guessed)
the guitar concerto; sample the imaginative use of percussion to suggest flamenco
dancing. The piano concerto is more cosmopolitan, while the Flute Music is the most
harmonically daring of the set. All of the music is essentially sunny and optimistic,
without any hint of academism. Those who want to explore some contemporary yet eminently
listenable music should definitely check this out.
Performances, while not exceptional, are sympathetic and competent. The soloists are
fully up to their tasks, and the sound is warm and bright but never harsh, as befits
this unpretentious music. This is a disc that gives me more please with every hearing.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Something different, you gotta listen to this one
3 Jan 2002
Format:Audio CD
If you like the works and technicalities of Ligeti, or
like me, you prefer tonality, and melody, then
we are in for something very special. Mr. Balada,
a composer whose name became familiar to me last
year(2001) when I first saw here at amazon.com
the recording of his first Violin Concerto;is
a composer of a very special and utmost original
style. He blends folk music of his native Spain,
with the most innovative, and inventive technical
musical theorical procedures. In his music one
can hear tone clusters at times, and yet still
hears the shoe stumping of flamenco dancers, as
in the first movement of his Concierto Magico for
guitar and orchestra. In the Piano Concerto, he
not only goes to Spain but he goes back to the
Spanish past by making reference to music of
Arab Andalusia (Andalusi) in the second movement
of the concerto. The Music for Flute and Orchestra
is his most recent recent work, it dates from
the year 2000. Mr. Balada in this works shows
that tradition and history can be perfectly blended
to produce the most beautiful and
rewarding melodies, Mr. Balada, well done!!!!
like me, you prefer tonality, and melody, then
we are in for something very special. Mr. Balada,
a composer whose name became familiar to me last
year(2001) when I first saw here at amazon.com
the recording of his first Violin Concerto;is
a composer of a very special and utmost original
style. He blends folk music of his native Spain,
with the most innovative, and inventive technical
musical theorical procedures. In his music one
can hear tone clusters at times, and yet still
hears the shoe stumping of flamenco dancers, as
in the first movement of his Concierto Magico for
guitar and orchestra. In the Piano Concerto, he
not only goes to Spain but he goes back to the
Spanish past by making reference to music of
Arab Andalusia (Andalusi) in the second movement
of the concerto. The Music for Flute and Orchestra
is his most recent recent work, it dates from
the year 2000. Mr. Balada in this works shows
that tradition and history can be perfectly blended
to produce the most beautiful and
rewarding melodies, Mr. Balada, well done!!!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Failed to create any lasting impression
21 Dec 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Well, I have to admit that my assessment of this disc is more lukewarm than most critics'. I knew Balada's music from before only through his impressive, massive "Steel" symphony (recorded by Lorin Maazel) and did approach this release with some expectations. The music of Leonardo Balada (b.1933) is accessible, despite his deployment of avant-garde techniques, and I suppose a possible if abstract point of comparison would be with surrealist paintings that employ familiar elements in unfamiliar settings. Balada uses elements of Catalan folk music, snippets of tunes and familiar rhythmic patterns to create often glittering, shimmering and harmonically rather radical textures, but apart from some immediately appealing effects I had a hard time finding much here that I would wish to revisit. At least the performances seem excellent and the recorded sound is superb, so these factors do presumably not contribute to my reluctance.
The third piano concerto (1997) strike me primarily as being a sequence of effects by which a sense of unity is achieved through immediately recognizable stylistic traits rather than anything resembling real development. At least it contains several fascinating elements, and it manages to retain the listener's interest throughout its three quirky, kaleidoscopic movements. The Concierto Mágico, Balada's fourth concerto for guitar and orchestra, has less to offer. As one expects from guitar concertos, it sets typically Spanish elements in an essentially classical framework. There are plenty of orchestral effects, of course, and plenty of busy, quarreling discussions between soloist and orchestra, but nothing adds up to anything.
The Music for Flute and Orchestra gives us more of the same; moderately intriguing orchestral effects, juxtapositions of busy passages and stretches of stasis, but little in terms of cumulative impact. The performances are, as mentioned, pretty excellent; Magdalena Martínez provides a lively rendition of the solo part in the Music for Flute & Orchestra, Eliot Fisk is an assured, resourceful soloist in the guitar concerto, and Rosa Torres-Pardo dispatches the solo part in the piano concerto with bravura, spirit, and seeming effortlessness. The Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya under José Serebrier impresses as well, with a broad palette of colors and generally vigorous (though refined) playing. Still, I am not sure they are able to convince me that this music in any way stands out from the crowd.
The third piano concerto (1997) strike me primarily as being a sequence of effects by which a sense of unity is achieved through immediately recognizable stylistic traits rather than anything resembling real development. At least it contains several fascinating elements, and it manages to retain the listener's interest throughout its three quirky, kaleidoscopic movements. The Concierto Mágico, Balada's fourth concerto for guitar and orchestra, has less to offer. As one expects from guitar concertos, it sets typically Spanish elements in an essentially classical framework. There are plenty of orchestral effects, of course, and plenty of busy, quarreling discussions between soloist and orchestra, but nothing adds up to anything.
The Music for Flute and Orchestra gives us more of the same; moderately intriguing orchestral effects, juxtapositions of busy passages and stretches of stasis, but little in terms of cumulative impact. The performances are, as mentioned, pretty excellent; Magdalena Martínez provides a lively rendition of the solo part in the Music for Flute & Orchestra, Eliot Fisk is an assured, resourceful soloist in the guitar concerto, and Rosa Torres-Pardo dispatches the solo part in the piano concerto with bravura, spirit, and seeming effortlessness. The Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya under José Serebrier impresses as well, with a broad palette of colors and generally vigorous (though refined) playing. Still, I am not sure they are able to convince me that this music in any way stands out from the crowd.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Fantastic!
2 Jan 2005
Format:Audio CD
Correctly applied--"Genius"- the Beethoven of our time- Leonardo Balada's Piano COncerto #3 is bold and fresh. The orchestra is a paintbrush in the hand of this master. The piano writing is unique-- there will be no mistaking this Piano Concerto for any other.
Fantastico!
Fantastico!
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