Among the opera selections, I was particularly taken with the imitative theme (trumpet, echoed by trombone) in the jogging Prelude to Garin, though it may be repeated once too often for comfort. These overtures contain a few moments of undistinguished throat clearing, amid memorable themes and passages of dance-driven excitement. The most notable examples of the latter are the jota concluding the prelude to La Dolores and a sardana (or round dance) in Garin.

En la Alhambra, which concludes the program, is a short tone poem and probably Bretón’s most popular concert work. It displays his lyrical gifts to good effect (as, indeed, does the lushly orchestrated saeta in the third of the Andalusian Scenes).

The performances shine under the baton of Miguel Roa, an experienced conductor of zarzuelas. Recording is full and present. The orchestra goes all out on the Rossinian storm effects (bass drum thwacks, etc.) in the Prelude to Los amantes de Teruel: 19th-century listeners would have been on the edge of their seats. In short, lots of fun.

This tunefully attractive piece of highly perfumed exoticism and alluring Spanish rhythms deserves wider appreciation. The performance here may lack the magic of Ataulfo Argenta’s 1950s recording (Medici Classics);but Miguel Roa is more successful in his delicate delineation of the other piece of “alhambrismo” in the collection, the single-movement Enfa Alhambra.

These items have been recorded in various forms previously, including historic recordings by Enrique Fernandez Arbos recently reissued on Dutton. However, the various operatic excerpts offer welcome novelty. The Prelude to La Dolores will already be familiar from the Decca recording with Domingo but those to Guzman el bueno and Los amantes de Teruel are impressively developed symphonic pieces that make excellent additions to the catalogue…this is a collection well worth acquiring.

Of the opera preludes, the one to ‘Los Amantas de Teruel’ is the most immediately interesting. It encapsulates a powerful and lyrical section for the lovers, a battle scene and their meeting in Heaven—all compressed into just over ten minutes…The longest and most interesting work on this disc is the ‘Escenas andaluzas’ (Andalucian Scenes). This is a four movement tone picture. Bretón spent much of his life (from 1885) as an orchestral conductor in Madrid. There he composed, as well as operas and zarzuelas, three symphonies. He was an experienced orchestrator and these skills of orchestral familiarity emerge fully in this the best work here. One can sense that apart from its intrinsic attractions it is building a foundation for the music of Albeniz and de Falla. It opens with a colourful ‘Bolero’. A ‘Polo’ uses an evocative oboe solo over string pizzicatos to conjure a steamy outdoor guitar. The next ‘Marcha y saeta’ is a slightly comic, processional march set in Holy Week. Its middle section uses the cor anglais to intone a quasi-plainchant saeta—a devotional song. Finally another Andalucian dance—a lively ‘Zapateado’—brings the piece to a happy conclusion. I enjoyed the work tremendously. It made me want to get back to that wonderful part of the world as soon as possible.

…The orchestral detail is well captured and fine points like harp glissandi and castanets can be heard clearly. The strings are well forward and they carry the main weight of the music. Anyway this generally undemanding music offers them few challenges. Miguel Roa steers them around the occasional tricky corners with alacrity.

‘En la Alhambra’ which ends the CD is a charming, elegant and slightly exotic single movement piece. It is lightly scored and has the air of an escapee from Carmen. It was very popular at the time and still has a certain if somewhat muted atmosphere.

I have listened recently with great pleasure to their issue of the Symphony by Ruperto Chapí [CHAPI: Symphony in D minor/Fantasia morisca (Madrid Community Orchestra, Encinar) 8.572195], Bretón’s great rival—they shared the composition prize at the Madrid Conservatory in 1872. It is appropriate that they should now provide an opportunity for us to compare it with the orchestral music of Bretón.

Bretón is best known for a single work—the one Act zarzuela “La Verbena de la Paloma” of 1894. Christopher Webber in “The Zarzuela Companion” describes it as perhaps the greatest zarzuela of all. I therefore approached the present disc with considerable interest. I was not disappointed. The first item—the “Escenas Andaluzas” (Andalusian Scenes)—is described as popular, although I must admit to not having heard it before, and previous recordings are not thick on the ground. It is a suite in four movements—Bolero, Polo, Marcha y saeta and Zapateado. Each is full of colour and the kind of rhythms and textures that non-Spaniards at least associate with Spain. It is in every way comparable to similar music by Massenet, Bizet and others. Indeed it is arguable that their works sound—again, to a non-Spaniard—more likely to have originated in the country. At times the orchestration and working out here has a heavier feel to it, although not to the music’s detriment. The movements are all varied and colourful, and it would be good to have the chance of hearing it in the concert hall one day. In the meantime this well recorded and idiomatically played disc is very welcome. The symphonic serenade En la Alhambra is similar in character and also well worth hearing.

The Preludes to four of Bretón’s operas are all interesting and pleasurable works, even if what we hear does not seem to bear much relation to the descriptions in the otherwise helpful notes by Victor Sánchez Sánchez. The opera Garin, for instance, apparently has a story very similar to that of Tannhäuser, and Los Amantes de Terurel concerns a tragic love story and is said to have a Prelude summarizing the musical tensions of that story. The mixture of styles, from the kind of dramatic gesture we might associate with, say, Litolff, Lortzing or Sullivan, to Spanish-style textures and melodies not dissimilar to those in the Suite, is nonetheless very winning.

All in all, this is a very attractive disc that will suit anyone with a taste for the more colourful music of this period or a more general interest in the music of Spain. Fortunately we can enjoy the music of both Chapí and Bretón without feeling any need to take sides between them.

The opera preludes also are very attractive; that from Los amantes de Teruel is a very substantial piece indeed, more than 10 minutes long and broodingly atmospheric. However, it’s the Sardana from Garin that’s the most fun. Its main theme, for solo trumpet and trombone, sounds like a Spanish take on Yellow Submarine, and it’s every bit as catchy. The Madrid orchestra hasn’t quite the opulence in the string section that the more effusive moments in Escenas andaluzas demand, but it plays very well under Miguel Roa, and the sonics have plenty of clarity and a nice, rich bass. A very fine release, highly recommended.