OCTOBER 2020 | The Art of Ataúlfo Argenta | Scribendum SC815

OCTOBER 2020 | The Art of Ataúlfo Argenta | Scribendum SC815

by RAY PICOT

Spanish music has seen more than its fair share of composers and musicians dying before they fulfilled their promise, one of whom was the Spanish pianist and conductor Ataúlfo Argenta. His achievements are celebrated in a modestly priced 22 CD boxed set, issued by Scribendum, appropriately titled The Art of Ataúlfo Argenta.

The set collects Argenta's most compelling recordings made during the 1950s, which even now remain authoritative and should command our attention. I found myself marvelling over Argenta’s unfailing attention to detail, whilst holding our attention over the longer symphonic pieces. The recording quality stands up very well after over 70 years, particularly those made by Decca engineers. Over half the set contains Hispanic music alongside pieces inspired by Spain, which alone makes this a worthwhile investment. His performances of  Albéniz, Breton, de Falla, Granados, Guridi and Rodrigo are outstanding, and listening to some of the live recording that are included, one can envisage how he captured an audience's imagination.

Ataúlfo Argenta was regarded as one of the most talented young conductors of his day, with an impressive international career at the time of his sudden death at the age of 44 in January 1958. He was a hard-working musician all his life, who rose from humble beginnings to become an accomplished pianist and performed with great success in Spain. A devoted family man, Argenta wanted the best for his wife and children so he increasingly turned to conducting and founded the Orquesta de Cámara de Madrid in 1944, and was also the head of the Orquesta de Radio Nacional, which he directed during regular radio broadcasts. He became a joint director of Orquesta Nacional De España in 1947, where he remained until his death. International fame followed Argenta's London conducting debut in June 1948 with the LSO and afterwards in Paris. By the early 1950s Argenta was considered to be among the great young conductors of the day, alongside Karajan, Giulini, Markievitch and Celibidache, consistently electrifing audiences with his performances. His massive touring schedule of around 125 concerts over 9 months during 1947/8 took a toll on his health. Combined with some outspoken comments on the post-war condition of Spanish music, he stepped back from public life. During the last 2 years of his life, Argenta’s musical star was in the ascent again. Somehow he found time to record some 50 zarzuelas alongside his other recording and performance commitments. Contemporary music also remained an important fiocus. His sudden and accidental death through carbon monoxide poisoning on 21 January 1958, following performances of Handel’s Messiah, left a huge gap in the music world and he was widely mourned. This is only a summary of Argenta's life and achievements, but for more you should investigate an excellent dedicated website ataulfoargenta.com , which includes a comprehensive biography in English. Unfortunately the box set contains only basic performance information on the slip cases.

Argenta’s operatic experience shows in the collection of zarzuela preludes and interludes and complete renditions of Granados’ Goyescas and de Falla’s El retable de Maese Pedro, with impressive native casts. Should you just want the Goyescas recording, you can find an excellent transfer on the French website forgottenrecords.com We shall have to wait for the zarzuela LPs to be transferred in the future. A compendium of Serrano’s preludes and orchestral highlights with a Fantasia, arranged by Ricard Lamotte de Grignon missed the cut along with the1953 live concert recording featuring a young Alicia de Larrocha, in Rodrigo’s Concierto Heroico. Fortunately both of these recordings are available on itunes. 

Argenta was also known for his championing of the new generation of artists, and there are some very well known names scattered throughout this set. His recording of what was a relatively new piece at the time, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, features an inspired Narciso Yepes, coupled as on the original LP with de Falla’s Noches en los jardines de España, featuring as soloist, Gonzalo Soriana. We also get a live reading of Rodrigo’s Concierto de estio, with the violinist Chrstian Ferras. This particular disc is simply outstanding, anmd remains available as a single CD.

Argenta had an instinct for instrumental subtlety which made him a natural in French repertoire, including Berlioz (his Symphonie Fantastique is riveting), Chabrier, Debussy and Ravel. The symphonic classics included fare very well with music by Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Weber. Lighter pieces appear from the pen of Chabrier, Rimsky-Korsakov, Moskowski and Smetana. More modern European repertoire including Schoenberg and Christoph Haffter were part of Argenta’s live repertoire, but here is less well represented though we have a live Pulcinella suite from Stravinsky and an outstanding rarity in Ohana’s Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, a setting, with narrator, of the famous poem by Federico García Lorca. Ohana’s music is avant garde in idiom and strongly influenced by Andalusian cante jondo.

Argenta’s Spanish music recordings will no doubt be the chief draw for many, which is a tantalising mixture of the familiar and less well known. Breton’s music may be attractively coloristic but Argenta keeps the pieces moving well with excellent rhythmic pointing, notably in the delicious serenata, En la Alhambra. The strongly melodic and distinctive basque voice of Guridi in his justly famous Diez melodías vascas is very strongly portrayed as is his nationalist compatriot Escudero, in his rarely heard Concierto Vasco, with pianist Martin Imaz. Falla is strongly represented, with an outstanding live concert version of El amor brujo. Orchestral highlights of Granados and Albéniz are most enjoyable, as are the rarely heard Ernesto Halffter Sinfonietta and Turina Danzas fantásticas and Sinfonía sevillana make very strong impressions alongside some smaller orchestral pieces. There are two selectons from Albéniz' Iberia, and it was good to reaquaint myself with his stereo 1953 Arbós suite, which of course predated Surinach's famous completion by 4 years. Notwithstanding some very well known subsequent recordings, I feel that Argenta really understands the idiom and brings a rhythmic snap and verve that can be so often be missed.

Over the years the various recording companies have brought out some of his zarzuela recordings and a brief survey on Discogs reveals over 30 LPs of which few have made it onto CD, though itunes has the majority of these to download. Whilst the boxed set has none of these, there is an excellent selection of orchestral preludes and intermezzos to explore, in consistently good performances.  We also hear Argenta at the piano alongside Arthur Grumiaux in Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart. Overall so many riches in committed and idiomatic performances, which really deserve to be heard.

The quality of the transfers is excellent and though the mono and stereo recordings are generally very good, a few show their age. However, it is truly amazing at the consistent quality of Argenta’s recorded legacy made in less than a decade. Overall it is clear that Ataúlfo Argenta had developed a keen sense of drama, with attention to rhythm and articulation, bringing out instrumental detail and colour to good effect. At the age of 44 he was a master of his art, which is amply demonstrated in this important set, which I can strongly recommend.

The track listing is too numerous to include in this review, but this link will take you to the relevant page on Scribendum’s website scribendumrecordings.com/our-shop/4583959841/sc815-22cd---ataúlfo-argenta-the-art-of/11376224

 

 

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