Concierto De Aranjuez

Spanish classical music had always aroused profound interest in Paco de Lucía. First came the album Lorca (1967), the records of Andalusian and Iberoamerican classics (65-69), afterwards came his magnificent work with Falla (1968) and from 1991 we must add this Concierto de Aranjuez and three pieces from the ‘Suite Iberia’ by Albeniz. His pledge here is clear: to offer out of the most profound respect a new perspective on the Classical Spanish canon, in Flamenco. The traditional and incomprehensible separation between classical Spanish music and Flamenco becomes here one of his most important challenges. The result is a revelation.
One of the dreams of every guitarist, classical or Flamenco, is to play the most popular piece in Spanish music, that is, the concerto for guitar and orchestra written by Joaquin Rodrigo under the title ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’. The duration of the concerto is not enough for an album, so Paco recorded three pieces, arranged by Juan Manuel Cañizares, taken from the “the high point of universal piano literature” (Messaien), that is ‘Suite Iberia’ by Isaac Albeniz to go with it. 12 pieces dedicated in the main to Andalusia from which were selected (in the opinion of the guitarists) the most easily-adaptable to the Flamenco melos (melody).
With the help of the Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario he was able to reunite the orchestra of Cadaqués, under the baton of Edmond Colomer, and made the dream come true —a Flamenco guitarist playing Rodrigo’s concerto. As shown on the cover of the album, the composer sat beside the interpreter and this brings to the music a new state, unheard in other versions. The beat of the Flamenco guitar, the confident and unmistakeable toque of Paco de Lucía gives a new face to this music. Which versions are best is a question of taste, but without doubt this is one of the most original and well-made, above all in the dynamic and the articulation.
Paco’s versions grant the music a totally renewed and essential rhythmical character, even if to some it is too much. The challenge was more than passed: if only classical Spanish music were interpreted more often from a Flamenco perspective, surely much of the canon would benefit from the experiment. His own words sum up the idea: “I play the concert as it is on the score, but I have never heard it played with rhythm and that’s where I do my interpretation.”