The Best of Martin Jones: Discover Manuel de Falla

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Martin Jones is the pianist on this very attractive disc which effectively contains the whole of Falla's piano music: it contains everything that the composer originally wrote for piano… Yet, you shrewdly observe, there are sixteen tracks on the CD. Indeed; the cuckoo's egg in this particular nest is track 10, Homenaje – Le tombeau de Claude Debussy. As David Andrew Thresher's booklet essay reminds us, it was written for solo guitar. Perhaps it was included here to make a pair with the other Homenaje: Pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas. The two are sensibly grouped together in the running order here.

Apart from their own musical value, and there is very little on this CD that one could call dull, the music Falla wrote for the piano offers insights into a complex, and in some ways paradoxical man…

…There is far more sense of dramatic intensity here, compared to its immediate predecessor Montañesa, with the use of fandango and zapateado rhythms contributing to the sense of vivacity and vibrancy. Martin Jones captures admirably, though without over-characterisation, the distinctive personalities of these four pieces.

…Fantasía Bætica is, indeed, a substantial and beautiful work, which deserves to be far better known. Martin Jones gives it the kind of performance it merits, and which makes its quality clear. He plays with both intensity and precision. Transitions of mood and tempo/rhythm are handled especially well.

…But we can, perhaps, take the CD's title in another sense: to imply 'Discover the less familiar Falla'. So, an invitation to discover an area of Falla's oeuvre which is too often neglected. His compositions for piano tend to be ignored by reference books and the like, including at least one history of Spanish music I have read. They are sometimes subsumed into a category called 'minor works'. This disc gives the enquiring listener a fine opportunity to discover that the best of Falla's works for piano are much more than that.

Music Web International – Classical Review

First things first: Martin Jones delivers a masterclass in this performance of the piano music of Manuel de Falla. Whether he is playing the Spanish-inspired works or the more universal salon pieces, Jones brings complete technical skill, sincerity of interpretation and sheer magic to this music. It is an ideal disc to 'Discover' de Falla's varied and often exciting piano music…

…This work is a celebration of Andalusian culture, history and landscape. Some of the musical material is derived from the Flamenco tradition: we hear strumming guitars, chattering castanets and heel stamping interspersed with several snatches of dance tunes…

For me this a piano masterpiece. Perhaps some of the 'less-favoured' pianistic devices such as tremolandos and glissandos give the work its overheated Andalusian sensibilities rather than detracting from its playability.  From the performer's point of view, there is always the danger, I guess, that the music will run away with them. This is not an issue for Martin Jones who presents a totally absorbing performance of this remarkably sun-drenched work.

Finally, the recorded sound is excellent.  Some listeners may wish to delve deeper into the history and aesthetic of these piano works; however, the succinct liner notes are most helpful. Clearly this release is part of a planned reissue of Martin Jones' back-catalogue. Long may it continue...

Music Web International – Classical Review