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RUTH LAREDO plays ALBENIZ &DE FALLA

MANUEL DE FALLA: Three Dances from the Three-Cornered Hat

| 1 | Dance of the Neighbors 3:16

| 2 | Dance of the Miller 2:51

| 3 | Dance of the Miller’s Wife 3:45

ISAAC ALBENIZ: Songs of Spain (Cantos de Esparia) op. 232

| 4 | Prelude 5:58

| 5 | Orientale 3:11

| 6 | Under a Palm Tree 3:11

PH Cordoba 5:48

| 8 | Seguidillas 3:07

o 76732-6265-2 8

MANUEL DE FALLA: El Amor Brujo: Suite

| 9 | Pantomime 4:44

| 10 | Scenes; Song of the Will-o’-the-Wisp 2:29

pT~l The Ghost; Dance of Terror 2:03

| 12 | The Magic Circle; Midnight 3:02

| 13 | Ritual Dance of Fire 3:41

ISAAC ALBENIZ: Suite Espanola

| 14 | Granada 3:44

| 15 | Sevilla 4:46

PH Cadiz 4:23

| 17 | Aragon 3:15

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 60 05"

PRODUCED BY THOMAS FROST ENGINEER: NELSON WONG, N Y. DIGITAL RECORDING INC RECORDED AT THE AMERICAN ACADEMY AND INSTITUTE OF ARTS & LETTERS, N.Y.C. MAY 31 AND JUNE 1, 1988 STEINWAY PIANO PROJECT MANAGER: ALEXANDRA SMYTH COVER ART: VITO FIORENZA

MCAD-6265

DIGITAL AUDIO

© 1989 MCA Records, Inc., © 1989 MCA Records, Inc. MANUFACTURED FOR MCA RECORDS, INC., 70 UNIVERSAL CITY PLAZA, UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA - U.S.A. WARNING: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAWS.

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RUTH LAREDO plays ALBENIZ & DE FALLA

MANUEL DE FALLA: Three Dances from the Three-Cornered Hat

| 1 | Dance of the Neighbors 3:16

| 2 | Dance of the Miller 2:51

| 3 1 Dance of the Miller’s Wife 3:45

ISAAC ALBENIZ: Songs of Spain (Cantos de Esparia) op. 232

[~4~] Prelude 5:58

| 5 | Orientate 3:11

| 6 | Under a Palm Tree 3:11

pT| Cordoba 5:48

| 8 | Seguidillas 3:07

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 60 05

MANUEL DE FALLA: El Amor Brujo: Suite

| 9 | Pantomime 4:44

| 10 | Scenes; Song of the Will-o’-the-Wisp 2:29

| 11 | The Ghost; Dance of Terror 2:03

| 12 | The Magic Circle; Midnight 3:02

| 13 | Ritual Dance of Fire 3:41

ISAAC ALBENIZ: Suite Espahola

| 14 | Granada 3:44

FT] Sevilla 4:46

IT] Cadiz 4:23

| 17 | Aragon 3:15

PRODUCED BY THOMAS FROST ENGINEER: NELSON WONG, N Y. DIGITAL RECORDING INC RECORDED AT THE AMERICAN ACADEMY AND INSTITUTE OF ARTS & LETTERS, N.Y.C. MAY 31 AND JUNE 1, 1988 STEINWAY PIANO PROJECT MANAGER: ALEXANDRA SMYTH COVER ART: VITO FIORENZA

MCAD-6265

MCAses r-l COMPACT

ifera DIGITAL AUDIO

© 1989MCA Records, Inc., © 1989 MCA Records, Inc. MANUFACTURED FOR MCA RECORDS, INC., 70 UNIVERSAL CITY PLAZA, UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA - U.S.A. WARNING: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAWS.

Ruty Laredo Albmiz&DeFalla

Songs of Spain • Suite Bspanola

Dances from T(;e TIjree Cornered Hat

Suite from ElAmor Brujo

RUTH LAREDO plays

ALBENIZ & DE FALLA

Notes by Leonard Burkat

Cantos de Espaha (“Songs of Spain”)? op. 232 By Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)

The distinctive folk music of Spain, which is so rich and so varied, sprang from the many, mixed influences on the people of the Iberian peninsula. During centuries of immigration or of conquest and occupation, Celts and Basques settled on the Atlantic Coast; Phoe¬ nicians, Romans and Moors arrived along the Mediterranean; and periodic land invasions from the north and east added further influ¬ ences. All this took place over immense spans of time and space, for the huge mountain ranges that separate Spain into about a dozen

distinct regions slow all movement and change, and help preserve the special charac¬ teristics of the life and the art of the people.

Many fine composers from other parts of Europe have celebrated the music of Spain — Russian and French composers especially — and every important Spanish composer has made his country’s folk music a part of his language of artistic expression. The music that the rest of the world thinks most typically Spanish is generally that of Andalusia, the southern coastal region of Spain where Gibraltar, with its view of Africa, separates the Atlantic from the Mediterranean. Its music still echoes the sounds that arrived there through the centuries from North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Andalusia is gloriously celebrated in the music of Isaac Albeniz, although he was bom in Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. He re¬ vealed his extraordinary gifts when he was

only four years old and at six he was taken by his mother to Paris, but a childish prank prevented him from entering the Conser¬ vatory there. As a boy of twelve he ran away from home and stowed away on a ship bound for South America where he earned a fortune as a pianist, but he ended up penniless in New York, playing in waterfront bars until he pulled himself together for a concert tour that took him as far as San Francisco. He made enough money to get to England and Ger¬ many, where he studied with the best academ¬ ics of the time, and he later placed himself under the tutelage of Franz Liszt in Germany and Italy. All this eventful history took place in his first twenty years. Then Albeniz began a great career as a serious pianist, but little by little he withdrew from the life of a traveling virtuoso, and in 1893 he settled in France, where he was a friend of such important composers as Chausson, Dukas, Faure and d’lndy, and devoted himself more and more seriously to creative work.

One of his mature piano works is the suite of Cantos de Espaha, “Songs of Spain” op. 232, which dates from 1896. The stirring Preludio that begins the work is in the style of the Asturias, a mountainous northern region, and next is the tuneful Oriental, music of the eastern regions. Bajo la palmer a, reflects the blending of Hispanic and African elements

that created a new folk music in Cuba and then was sent back to Spain. Cordoba evokes the nocturnal beauty of that Andalusian mountain city and the serenades sung there. The group closes with the spirited dance-songs of the Seguidillas.

Suite Espahola (“Spanish Suite”) No. 1, op. 47 By Isaac Albeniz

A somewhat earlier collection of folk-fla¬ vored pieces was first published in 1886 as the composer’s Suite espahola or “Spanish Suite” No. 1, Op. 47. In later editions, its contents vary as a number of pieces are moved in and out of the Suite, the Cantos and other Albeniz collections. Miss Laredo has selected from them a small suite of four movements.

Granada is a serenade, such as was perhaps once heard in the moonlight in that Andalusian city’s great Moorist citadel, the Alhambra. Sevilla is a typical dance of the region around Seville, the Andalusian cap¬ ital. Cadiz is a saeta, a song in the flamenco style sung at the religious processions of Holy Week in that southern port city. Aragon is commemorated by Albeniz in a fantasy on the jota aragonesa, the rhythmic courting dance that fascinated the early visitors to Spain from far-off Russia.

Three Dances from the Ballet, El Sombrero de Tres Picos (“The Three-Cornered Hat”), by Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) Manuel de Falla studied at the Madrid Conser¬ vatory, then went on to Paris to broaden his musical experience, and became the greatest twentieth-century Spanish composer. He be¬ came a friend of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, and then returned home to com¬ bine some of the most important new ideas current in their circle with the best musical traditions of the Iberian peninsula, in music that reflects the interaction of impressionism, neoclassicism, Spanish folk music and the art music of Spain’s past.

The Three-Cornered Hat is the title of a novel that Pedro Antonio de Alarcon (1833-1891) based on a Spanish folk-tale and published in 1875. It tells a complicated story of the encounters of the pretty young wife of a miller, her jealous husband, and a Corregidor, a village magistrate. The music was written in 1916 and 1917 and first performed in Madrid on April 7, 1917, as accompaniment to a mimed version of the story, and in 1919 Diaghilev produced it in London as a ballet with choreography by Leonid Massine.

The three-movement suite for piano be¬ gins with The Dance of the Neighbors, a seguidilla performed near the mill in celebra¬ tion of Saint John’s Day. Next is The Miller’s

Dance, a heavy-footed farrucca, and last is The Miller’s Wife’s Dance, a fandango in which she flirts with the Corregidor.

Suite from the Ballet, El Amor Brujo (“Love, the Magician”) By Manuel de Falla

In 1914, the Spanish dancer-singer-actress, Pastora Imperio, asked de Falla and the dramatist Gregorio Martinez Sierra to write a stage work in which she could display her many gifts. Her mother, who had been a famous dancer before her, sang them folk songs and told them old tales that they soon fashioned into El amor brujo. It is usually called “Love, the Magician” in English, but brujo is also the Spanish word for “warlock” and the scenario suggests as an alternative title “Love by Witchcraft!’ In its final version, it is the story of Candelas, a beautiful young widow whose love for the young and hand¬ some Carmelo can never be consummated because the ghost of her late husband keeps returning to interfere. Understanding the specter’s weakness for women, she arranges for her friend Lucia to distract it, on its next appearance. Carmelo and Candelas then kiss, and the ghost disappears forever. Its move¬ ments are: 1, Pantomime; 2, Song of the Will- o’-the-Wisp; 3, Dance of Terror, 4, The Magic Circle (Fisherman’s Song); and 5, Ritual Dance of Fire (To Drive Away the Evil Spirits).

Copyright © 1988 by Leonard Burkat

When RUTH LAREDO made her debut with the New York Philharmonic, The New York Times called her “the present generation’s first truly major Ameri¬ can woman pianist!’ The New York Daily News has hailed her as “America’s first lady of the piano!’

Although she has performed throughout the world, Ruth Laredo has achieved tremendous dis¬ tinction in her own country and is one of our most versatile artists. She has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center and the White House and with the symphony orchestras of Phila¬ delphia, Boston, Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore, Houston, Indianapolis, Buffalo and with the National and American Symphonies.

A three-time Grammy nominee, Miss Laredo has received particular success with her historic recordings of works by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Ravel. She is the first person ever to have recorded Rachmaninoff’s complete solo piano works, a five- year project for CBS Records which produced a series of seven discs. Her passionate advocacy of Scriabin and recordings of his complete sonatas won universal acclaim and sparked a great revival of interest in his music. Recent recordings include works by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.

Miss Laredo participated in the Music from Marlboro concerts from their inception in 1965 and often appears at the Caramoor and Spoleto USA Festivals. Frequent guest artist with such ensembles as the Tokyo and Cleveland Quartets, she also sets aside a portion of her schedule each year to tour with flutist Paula Robison.

MCAD-6265

Because of her interest in and identification with the music of Rachmaninoff, she was commissioned by the international publishing firm of C. F. Peters Corporation to edit a new Rachmaninoff Urtext’ edition. The Prelude, Opus 3, No. 2 and Ten Preludes, Opus 23 have inaugurated the series.

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Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6 London Symphony Orchestra / Gennadi Rozhdestvensky: Conductor MCAD-25171, MCAD-25174, MCAD-25175

Gershwin: The Legendary Transcriptions of Percy Grainger Porgy & Bess Suite / Rhapsody in Blue / Cuban Overture / The Man I Love / Love Walked In / Embraceable You Richard & John Contiguglia: Duo Pianists MCAD-6226

Gershwin: The Songbook / Rhapsody In Blue / Who Cares? Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Andrew Litton: Soloist & Conductor MCAD-6216

Rodgers & Hammerstein: Carousel Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Barbara Cook & Samuel Ramey Paul Gemignani: Conductor MCAD-6209

A Broadway Extravaganza: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Paul Gemigani: Conductor MCAD-6219

A Digital Trip Down Broadway: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Paul Gemignani: Conductor MCAD-6220

The Segovia Collection: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 MCAD-42068, MCAD-42067, MCAD-42069

MCA Classics Sampler 2: World Class Classics MCAD-25169

Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast / Suite From Henry V Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Andre Previn: Conductor MCAD-6187

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Highlights) English National Opera / Eric Idle MCAD-6215

Gilbert & Sullivan: Ruddygore (Complete) New Sadler’s Wells Opera / Simon Phipps: Conductor MCAD2-11010

Gilbert & Sullian: H.M.S. Pinafore (Complete) New Sadler’s Wells Opera / Simon Phipps: Conductor MCAD2-11012

RUTH LAREDO „ PLAYS

ALBENIZ&DE FALLA

MCAD-6265

Manufactured in U.S.A. for MCA Records, Inc., 70 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California — U S A. WARNING: All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

©1989 MCA Records, Inc.

MANUEL DE FALLA: Three Dances from the Three-Cornered Hat CO Dance of the Neighbors (3:16) 0 Dance of the Miller (2:51) a Dance of the Miller’s Wife (3:45)

ISAAC ALBENIZ: Songs of Spain (Cantos de Espaha) Op. 232

0 Prelude (5:58) 0 Orientale (3:11) 0 Under a Palm Tree (3:11) 0 Cordoba (5:48) 0 Seguidillas (3:07)

MANUEL DE FALLA: El Amor Brujo: Suite

0 Pantomime (4:44) GD Scenes; Song of the Will-o'-the-Wisp (2:29) ^ ED The Ghost; Dance of Terror (2:03) EH The Magic Circle; Midnight (3:02) A

ED Ritual pance of Fire (3:41) ISAAC ALBENIZ: Suite Espahola

El Granada (3:44) Ell Sevilla (4:46) ED Cadiz (4:23) ^^ Ezl Aragon (3:15) Jfr