%0 Journal Article 
%A Fatichenti, Marco
%T Escaping aesthetic control: from a historic "Quejas" to a new "Amor"

%D 2021
%@ 2660-4582
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/50409
%X Spanish pianists, educators, and commentators have relished passing down
to following generations the performance practices of their own tradition, with the
renowned institution L’escola de música de Barcelona claiming to offer specialist
training in 'Spanish music'. In this context, Granados’s "Goyescas" have inevitably
become the almost-exclusive domain of native musicians, herding artists’ creativities
towards sets of performance instructions familiar to them. That we should continue
to consider this repertoire as a specifically separate entity, fully knowable only by
local artists or those trained within their tradition, is worthy of attention, as it places
anyone outside this educational background and performing tradition as ‘other’ in
need of acceptance. While the study of Granados’s output has recently been enriched
by analytical investigations, recording projects, and new critical editions, it is the still
unfamiliar early-recorded legacy by the composer/pianist that will be the catalyst for
insights in this article. His Welte-Mignon roll recordings show a dynamic and flexible
artistry, unsurprising in pianists of his generation, together with a lack of highly articulated ornamental inflexions and the rhythmical rigour we might expect in performances of such
repertoire. The question that I wish to raise is whether at some point during the twentieth century
there was a cultural shift that shaped ‘Spanish music’ to sound as distinctively national as possible.
Such a shift would have occurred, in the minds of players, in parallel to wider changes in performance
styles taking place throughout the continent. Exploring these aesthetic ideals through the lens of the
country’s cultural history during the troubled years across the middle of the last century may hint at the
subtle but meaningful ways that defined a canon flavoured with local folklore, both within and without
the Spanish borders. The aim throughout is to challenge these orthodox approaches controlling the
repertoire, resulting in my own renewed performance of "El amor y la muerte"; the hope will be that of
empowering pianists to make different choices, diversifying performance options in the future.

%K Cultural history
%K Folklore
%K Identity
%K Goyescas
%K Granados
%K Piano
%K Performance
%K Propaganda
%K Spanishness
%K Spanish music history
%K Historia cultural
%K Identidad
%K Interpretación pianística
%K Españolismo
%K Historia de la música española
%K Música
%K Music
%K Arte
%K Art
%~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala