El hijo fingido (Rodrigo)

Miguel Ramón, María Rodríguez, Lola Casariego, María José Suarez, María Rey-Joly, Emilio Sánchez, Enrique R. del Portal, Luis Álvarez, Carlos López, Carmen Haro. Chorus and Orchestra of the Comunidad de Madrid, c. Miguel Roa
EMI Classics 5 57127 2

[digest from the full review]

Rodrigo's only substantial theatre score is characteristically full of light and air, clear, clean and easy on the ear. There are hints of Doña Francisquita, La villana and La tempranica, a work which Rodrigo admired greatly. The style, though, is unmistakably his own, at least in the orchestral numbers, the overture, interludes and dances. The performance, by the cast of the 2001 Teatro de la Zarzuela production under Roa, is pristine. The recording quality succeeds nicely in capturing the spare, clean textures of this gently effective music, a cool reflection on the sunset years of the zarzuela rather than a central example of that tradition, admirably served by this performance.

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