Dialogue at a Window
Donald Macleod explores Granados's masterpiece, the piano cycle Goyescas, inspired by the fifth of Goya's Caprichos.
Granados was drawn to the work of Goya at a time when Spain was searching its past for great figures, and struggling to redefine herself in the wake of military defeats. The fifth of Goya's Caprichos inspired the opening movement of Granados' masterpiece, the piano cycle Goyescas. The composer himself sketched the subject of the second movement, in which a man and woman are having a private conversation through a screen - the real-life inspiration behind this piece may have been Clotilde Godo, with whom Granados was having an intense affair.
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Music Played
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Granados
Serenata goyesca
Performer: Douglas Riva (piano)
- Naxos 8.554403.
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Granados
Quejas, o la maja y el ruisenor
Performer: Kate Royal (sop)/ ASMF/ Edward Gardner (cond)
- EMI 0946 3 94419 2.
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Granados
Libro de Horas (extract) - El invierno (La muerte del ruisenor)
Performer: Thomas Rajna (piano)
- CRD 3335.
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Granados
Escenas poeticas
Performer: Thomas Rajna (piano)
- CRD 3335.
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Granados
Goyescas: Los requiebros/ Coloquio en la reja
Performer: Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
- Decca 411 958-2.
Broadcasts
- Wed 13 Apr 201112:00BBC Radio 3
- Wed 13 Apr 201122:00BBC Radio 3
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