MANUEL DE FALLA

…the influence of the night, the fountains, dreamy patios, flowering pomegranates, and a sense of mystery and the ghosts of the past…

Musicologist W. R. Anderson was referring to De Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain when he wrote those words, but they might well have applied to all the works on this disc. All these pieces are inspired by the romance of Spain – they tell of gypsies and ghosts, of love and infidelity. De Falla was born in the southern Spanish seaport of Cadiz, so it was natural that the Andalusian folk music which surrounded him would colour his own compositions, giving them unique colour and excitement.

This disc contains three of De Falla’s best loved works, including the Love the Magician suite, his undoubted masterpiece, reflecting as it does the composer’s love of the fiery local music with which he grew up.

This recording was renowned for it’s brightness of tone and earthy, vital performances. It remains one of the best in the catalogue and collectors will be pleased to see it back in circulation.



Love the Magician started life as one-act ballet which Falla later revised the work into the concert suite here. Based on an old Andalusian legend, it is the story of Candelas, a beautiful gypsy girl, who is haunted by the memory of her dead lover – a fascinating but dissolute gypsy whose passionate jealousy lives on in the form of an evil spirit. She falls in love with a handsome youth, Carmelo, but their affair is threatened by the ghost, who returns to haunt and terrify them. Carmelo persuades another gypsy girl, Lucia, to flirt with the evil spectre, thus diverting attention from Candelas. The ghost is completely unable to resist Lucia’s charms and whilst she distracts him Candelas and Carmelo exchange ‘the kiss of perfect love’. The spectre’s evil influence is immediately banished.
Three rhapsodic symphonic impressions combine to make up Nights in the Gardens of Spain. The first, ‘In the Generalife’, is named after the garden of the summer residence used by the Moorish kings who, in the 13th and 14th centuries, ruled Granada from the nearby Alhambra Palace. The Second, ‘A Distant Dance’, is a triple-time allegretto of a sensuous nature in which the underlying rhythm carries with is a curious sense of sadness. For the final movement, ‘In the Gardens of the Sierra de Cordoba’, the piano ushers in music of a more festive nature – the sounds of a gypsy encampment on the mountainside, with wild singing and dancing.
The Interlude and Dance are taken from the music which De Falla wrote for a lyric drama about a gypsy girl who confronts her unfaithful lover on his wedding day. The Interlude, which separates the two tableaux of the second act, and the Spanish Dance, which occurs in the wedding scene, were subsequently linked together and published independently, providing a colourful and vivacious orchestral piece.

The brightly lit Chandos recording emphasis the vigour of Geoffrey Simons very vital account…
Geoffrey Simon and the Chandos sound engineers have something new and fresh to offer… the singing of Sarah Walker with its vibrant, earthy vitality brings an added dimension of Flamenco drama…Margaret Fingerhuts playing responds splendidly to the changes of mood and has plenty of personality…


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