Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Concertos; Orchestral Works [Box Set]

highly enjoyable, highly accessible, full of lush melodies and colorfully orchestrated

See my more detailed review under this set's other entry: Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Concertos; Orchestral Works [Box Set]. It is a reissue of four well-filled discs (each over 70 minutes) first recorded and published by EMI between 1980 and 1985, and now also available as a cheap EMI set: The Rodrigo Edition (4 CDs): Concertos & Orchestral Works Conducted by Enrique Batiz.

The music breaks no grounds but it is highly enjoyable, highly accessible, full of lush melodies and colorfully orchestrated. The language is that of the post-Debussy/Ravel "musique française" and "musique espagnole" written in the first half of the 20th by composers such as Sauguet, Milhaud, Ibert or Falla, with late-Romantic outbursts pointing to British composers like Delius or Bax. At that price, it is no doubt the best possible introduction to the music of Rodrigo. October 3, 2007

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