Album

One of the most interesting and instructive developments in opera at the turn of the twenty first century is conductor José de Eusebio's series of recordings devoted to the operas of Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz. Long regarded as of marginal interest owing to the clunky libretti of aspiring man-of-the-theater Francis Burdett Money-Coutts, Eusebio's careful reconstructions of Albéniz' original musical texts reveal that the music is as strong as Money-Coutts' books are weak. Eusebio has already recorded the operas Merlin and Henry Clifford for Deutsche Grammophon, and in this instance, Eusebio takes on the one Albéniz stage work that has gained some degree of traction in the performing repertory, Pepita Jiménez. A Spanish-language version of this work was made by Pablo Sorozábal in 1963 that effectively converts Pepita Jiménez into a zarzuela, and this version staged with some frequency in Spain, even previously recorded on a couple of occasions. However, Sorozábal changed the ending to better suit the political climate during the Franco regime, an alteration that does Albéniz's work grave injustice. In this recording, Eusebio elects to utilize the one version of Pepita Jiménez that Albéniz himself heard, a 1904 revision that divides the opera into two acts and contains the most mature orchestration that Albéniz ever created on his own.

Although the 1904 revision was given in French, the English-language version of the libretto is pressed into service here. The plot is dominated by the two main characters, Pepita Jiménez and Padre Don Luis de Vargas, portrayed by Carol Vaness and Plácido Domingo, respectively. As the opera is really "about" the Padre and not the title character, Domingo has long stretches of the music to himself, performing the part in a very dedicated way with a great deal of flourish and gusto. It is amazing thatDomingo, in his mid-sixties, sounds as terrific as he does here, and yet it would be incorrect to assume on this basis that he sounds fresh as a daisy in every bar of the music. Vaness is no ingénue either, but both hang in there and turn in a better than credible performance; these characters are not supposed to be youngsters like those in La bohème, so overall, it works, though the English is not always easy to understand—keep the book handy. The Orchestra and Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid under Eusebio turns in a beautifully fluid performance of the orchestral and choral parts, and this is what really grabs the listener about the score: to hear Albéniz's Spanish-themed musical ideas in his own orchestration. Albéniz preferred a less vibrant, more subdued orchestral palate than Enrique Fernandez Arbos, who ultimately orchestrated most of the composer's piano suite Iberia after his death in 1909. Albéniz's other operas, naturally, do not utilize Spanish themes because their stories are based in English lore, as per Money-Coutts' preferences. One could argue, however, that, even though Albéniz was a little out of his element in Merlin and Henry Clifford, that as operas they are a bit more compelling and effective than Pepita Jiménez.

While the storyline is bowdlerized in the older recordings, they are not bad ones. This Pepita Jiménez may not compel the consumer to throw the old ones out, but rest assured that this version makes its entrance as the most texturally accurate version on the market, and it is beautifully sung by its principals and very well done overall.

© Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 2
Isaac Albéniz Composer Pepita Jiménez (lyric comedy)...Act 1 Work 44:16 Carol Vaness Soprano, Ángel Rodríguez Baritone, Jane Henschel Mezzo-Soprano, José de Felipe Children's Choirmaster, Comunidad de Madrid Orchestra Orchestra, Coro de Niños de la Comunidad de Madrid Chorus/Choir (Children), Madrid Community Choir Chorus/Choir, Carlos Chausson Bass, Enrique Baquerizo Baritone, José de Eusebio Conductor, Plácido Domingo Tenor, José Antonio López Baritone, Federico Gallar Tenor, Jordi Casas Bayer Chorus/Choir Director
1	1.Donna Pepita!...	1:56			$0.49
2	2.Pepita loves my Luis?...	1:29			$0.49
3	3.Who eats a sour banana...	1:20			$0.49
4	4.He promised her...	1:04			$0.49
5	5.You've pulled the blind...	2:03			$0.99
6	6.So here's the shrine...	1:18			$0.49
7	7.Ssh! Pepita!...	1:17			$0.49
8	8.Don Pedro! Always so handy!...	1:03			$0.49
9	9.Come, come, my little acolyte!...	0:53			$0.49
10	10.Far better live on acolyte!...	0:50			$0.49
11	11.Well, have you said goodbye...	1:00			$0.49
12	12.My child, your hand is cold!...	1:14			$0.49
13	13.Do you remember, one day...	2:13			$0.99
14	14.Yet take courage!...	1:29			$0.49
15	15.Holy marriage!...	1:40			$0.49
16	16.Ah no!... He loved Pepita!...	1:37			$0.49
17	17.And I'm so wicked...	1:49			$0.49
18	18.Your words serene...	1:09			$0.49
19	19.Farewell, my child!...	0:55			$0.49
20	20.This is the way with the drone...	1:22			$0.49
21	21.The rev'rend father has admonish'd me!...	1:56			$0.49
22	22.Ah! Mother of sorrows...	0:41			$0.49
23	23.I've come to bid farewell...	3:42			$0.99
24	24.Away into the wilderness!...	1:29			$0.49
25	25.This is really outrageous!...	0:39			$0.49
26	26.The devil take your consolation!...	1:01			$0.49
27	27.I cannot do your pleasure!...	0:43			$0.49
28	28.Take heart!...	1:32			$0.49
29	29. O 'Tona, you're a prophet!...	1:03			$0.49
30	30. Yes, Pepita's very sly!...	1:22			$0.49
31	31.When but sixteen, Pepita...	1:32			$0.49
32	32.I've come to beg your pardon...	0:55			$0.49
CD 2 of 2
Isaac Albéniz Composer Pepita Jiménez (lyric comedy)...Act 2 Work 46:14 Carol Vaness Soprano, Ángel Rodríguez Baritone, Jane Henschel Mezzo-Soprano, José de Felipe Children's Choirmaster, Comunidad de Madrid Orchestra Orchestra, Coro de Niños de la Comunidad de Madrid Chorus/Choir (Children), Madrid Community Choir Chorus/Choir, Carlos Chausson Bass, Enrique Baquerizo Baritone, José de Eusebio Conductor, Plácido Domingo Tenor, José Antonio López Baritone, Federico Gallar Tenor, Jordi Casas Bayer Chorus/Choir Director
1	1.Tableau 1: Prelude	3:55			$0.99
2	2.Tableau 1: All is ready!...	1:43			$0.49
3	3.Tableau 1: 'Tona! How gladly...	1:41			$0.49
4	4.Tableau 1: Heigh ho! Who preaches Love...	1:54			$0.49
5	5.Tableau 1: Who teaches Love was made...	1:26			$0.49
6	6.Tableau 1: Pepita!...	2:02			$0.99
7	7.Tableau 1: Yes, by their innocence...	1:28			$0.49
8	8.Tableau 1: Born into common humility...	2:37			$0.99
9	9.Tableau 1: Ballet	2:35			$0.99
10	10.Tableau 1: Dance, little darlings...	1:34			$0.49
11	11.Tableau 1: Thank you, my friends!...	0:59			$0.49
12	12.Tableau 1: Forgive me! 'Tis best I retire, to rest...	2:59			$0.99
13	13.Tableau 2: Interlude	2:54			$0.99
14	14.Tableau 2: Love moves by night 1	3:29			$0.99
15	15.Tableau 2: Love moves by night 2	2:13			$0.99
16	16.Tableau 2: Oh! Luis, this last sad meeting...	1:17			$0.49
17	17.Tableau 2: To gather sweet flowers I stole away!...	3:31			$0.99
18	18.Tableau 2: Sweet friend! No earthly union...	3:00			$0.99
19	19.Tableau 2: My God! I cannot bear it!...	1:22			$0.49
20	20.Tableau 2: Go! bear my latest breath...	2:18			$0.99
21	21.Tableau 2: Farewell! Farewell forever!...	1:17			$0.49