Música clásica (Chapí)

Cristina Faus / Ana Hernández Sanchiz, Francisco Sánchez / Carlos Pulido, Augusto Val / Pedro María Sánchez. Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, c. Cristóbal Soler
Fundación Caja Madrid - ISBN: 978-84-89471-41-2

Ana María Iriarte, José María Maiza, Gerardo Monreal. Gran Orquesta Sinfónica, c. Ataúlfo Argenta
Novoson Z-556

It's deplorable that Argenta's LP of Chapí's tonadilla-style squib, with its illusions to so many famous classical pieces (not least Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony), has not yet been officially released on CD. With Iriarte and Monreal at their comic best as the young lovers, and Maiza an appropriate mixture of starch and gravel as the solemn old music master, this is one of the true classics of the Alhambra series.

The only version "available" on CD comes as an extra with the beautiful children's picture book devoted to the zarzuela by Fundación Caja Madrid. As it's in Juan José Colomer's sensitive chamber reorchestration of Chapí's original it's not entirely comparable with Argenta's much more operatic reading, but it does boast some of the dialogue and both playing and singing (by the cast of the 2008 Teatro de la Zarzuela production) is very good. If you can track it down through its ISBN catalogue number, this is well worth acquiring. The book itself, illustrated in the style of the popular cartoonist Mingote, is a joy too.

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