After a centuries-long, post-Renaissance slump when Spanish music was overwhelmed by German and Italian influences, it soared back to glory in the final decades of the 19th-century. The chief architect of this rebirth was Felipe Pedrell (1841-1922). The impact of this composer, teacher and writer echoes throughout the music on this CD. Pedrell launched his patriotic musical crusade by increasing Spaniards’ awareness of their magnificent musical heritage. Surveying his own time, Pedrell recognized that in the rowdy style of operetta known as the zarzuela, the country had already established a strong beachhead in theatre. His next goal was to carve out a matching reputation for Spanish instrumental music, using folk songs and dances as the foundation. “Let us aspire to the essence of an ideal and purely human musical form,” he wrote, “but seated in the shade of our southern gardens.” This lofty aim lay beyond Pedrell’s composing talent, but his gifted pupils - including Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla and Enrique Granados - brought it to pass. Albéniz (1860-1909) led an early life of Hollywood-style adventure. At 12, and already a seasoned concert pianist, he stowed away on a ship bound for the Americas. Returning to Europe, he undertook formal musical instruction, including lessons from Franz Liszt. His youthful compositions are lightweight, cosmopolitan salon music. Under Pedrell’s tutoring, Albéniz began creating music with a distinctly Spanish tang. After spending several years in Paris, where he became friends with Debussy, Chausson and other prominent composers, he hit his creative stride by merging Spanish earthiness and French refinement. His catalogue is dominated by piano music, but also includes a number of theatre works, songs and a handful of pieces involving the orchestra. The original, piano-and orchestra version of Rapsodia española (Spanish Rhapsody), Op. 70, was first performed in 1887. Albéniz later adapted it for piano solo. In this free-wheeling medley of dance themes, the mood and energy level change frequently, shifting in the blink of an eye between sultriness and animation. Falla’s life (1876-1946) shares several parallels with Albéniz. He, too studied with Pedrell, spent time in Paris, and went on to synthesize French and Spanish musical elements. He was a more serious artist than Albéniz. He also found the orchestra more congenial. His finest orchestral composition is Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain, 1916). Falla’s original intention was to write a set of three nocturnes for solo piano, but at the suggestion of celebrated pianist Ricardo Viñes, it developed into a work for piano and orchestra. It is not a traditional concerto, but an orchestral work where the keyboard takes the role of principal - but by no means exclusive - advocate of the music’s shimmering impressionist colours. Falla wrote, “Although in this work the composer has followed a definite design, regarding tonal rhythmical and thematic material...the end for which it is written is no other that to evoke places, sensations, and sentiments...The music has no pretensions of being descriptive; it is merely expressive. But something more than the sounds of festivals and dances have inspired these three ‘evocations in sound,’ for melancholy and mystery play their part, too.” The title of the opening section, “In the Generalife”, refers to a garden in the Alhambra, the lavish palace in Granada where the Moorish caliphs spent the summer. It is the most tranquil section of the piece, though passion and warmth figure in it, as well. “Distant Dance” brings a brace of animated rhythms, suggestive of an evening festival. This spirit continues into the finale, “In the Gardens of the Mountains of Córdoba”, until the music gradually winds down, fading gently and nostalgically into the night. Joaquin Turina (1882-1949) followed much the same path as Albéniz and Falla, including a period of study in Paris. In 1907, he and Falla took part in a Parisian performance of a Turina quintet. Albéniz was in the audience. He took his two young colleagues to a café afterwards and passed on some of Pedrell’s advice to Turina. He recommended that his young colleague cast off his conservative models and look to Spanish folk music for inspiration. Turina followed this counsel for a time, only to end up using it as just one element of an internationalist style. His music has colour to spare and regularly treats distinctly Spanish subjects, but it pays greater attention to traditional forms than any of his Spanish contemporaries. Rapsodia sinfónica (Symphonic Rhapsody), Op. 66 for piano and string orchestra, dates from 1931. Briefer and less wide-ranging than the Albéniz rhapsody, it falls into two distinct halves. The opening panel is slow in tempo, and warmly expressive in character. The soloist kicks off the dashing second section, where at times Turina makes the piano sound like a big, strummed guitar. With Xavier Montsalvatge (born 1912) this program leaves the sphere of direct contact between composers and moves to a more generalized type of influence (although Montsalvatge did win the Barcelona Conservatory’s Pedrell Prize). Like Turina, he has included elements of Spanish folk traditions in his music on a regular basis, and has melded them with practices drawn from beyond the borders of his homeland. His early works reflect the cheeky French (Les Six) and sinewy, neo-classical Russian (Stravinsky) models of the day. Montsalvatge’s Concierto breve of 1953 is a more individual piece, although more akin to the bright, refreshing concertos of Joaquin Rodrigo than any radical school of the day. It is dedicated to eminent Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha. A literal translation of the title - “Brief Concerto” - is misleading. At over 23 minutes, it is longer than many standard-repertoire concertos such as those of Liszt. The ceremonial, quasi-serious opening soon gives way to a first movement built upon bright hi-jinks and an endearing, wistful lyricism. A melancholy English horn solo opens the slow movement (shades of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez). Although this section rises to a highly expressive climax, it steers well clear of sentimentality. A substantial cadenza serves as a bridge to the invigorating dance rhythms of the finale.

ANGELA CHENG, piano
Conductors, critics and audiences around the world have praised Angela Cheng’s technique and interpretive skills as “magical,” “profound,” “transcendental,” and “dazzling.” After winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Artur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, she went on, in 1988, to become the first ever Canadian pianist to win the Montreal International Piano Competition. During her stellar concert career, she has played to enthusiastic audiences in London, Salzburg, New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and in all the major Canadian cities. A masterful interpreter of Mozart, Ms. Cheng was awarded the Medal of Excellence by the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1991. With more than 30 concertos at her commend, her repertoire beyond Mozart embraces a broad array of classical, romantic and early twentieth-century masterpieces. This disc of Spanish-based repertoire, NIGHTS IN THE GARDENS OF SPAIN, complements her highly acclaimed Mozart piano concerto recording (CBC SMCD 5104) on the CBC Records label. Her elegant keyboard artistry is also on display with her disc of the Clara Schumann piano concerto for the Koch International label, and her recital of solo piano music of both Robert and Clara Schumann.

CALGARY PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is considered one of the best and most versatile orchestras in Canada. Except for a brief interruption between the two world wars, there has been a symphony orchestra in Calgary since 1910. The present orchestra was formed in 1955. The CPO moved into the new Jubilee Auditorium in 1957. In 1985, the CPO found a new home in the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary’s Centre for the Performing Arts. Besides an extensive schedule of concerts at the Jack Singer, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra also performs as the resident orchestra for both the Calgary Opera and Alberta Ballet. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra has toured western and central Canada and the eastern United States. Hans Graf was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the CPO in 1994. In 1997, Bramwell Tovey was named Principal Guest Conductor. Rolf Bertsch was named the CPO’s Resident Conductor in 1999. Mario Bernardi has been Conductor Laureate of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra since he stepped down as Music Director of the orchestra.

HANS GRAF, conductor
Born in Austria, Hans Graf studied conducting in Austria and Russia, and attended masterclasses with such distinguished teachers as Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Arvid Jansons. In 1979, he won first prize at the Karl Bohm Competition. Hans Graf has conducted such major orchestras as the Boston Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre Nationale de France, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic. He has also appeared at major international festivals including Aspen, Mostly Mozart (Lincoln Center), Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, Bregenz, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Savonlinna. Prior to becoming involved with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995, Maestro Graf served as Music Director of the Mozarteum Orchestra and the Landestheater in Salzburg (1984-1994). In October 1997, he extended his contract with the CPO until the end of the 1999-2000 season. He is also the Music Director of Opera of the Orchestre Nationale de Bordeaux-Aquitaine (ONBA). Maestro Graf has recorded for EMI, Erato, JVC and, for Capriccio, the complete symphonies of Mozart and Zemlinski’s Es war einmal.