RLPO/Hindoyan: Iberia Album Review – Hindoyan and RLPO turn up the heat with Spanish colors and sunshine | classical music

THere’s a certain reverence for a bygone era about Iberia, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest album under conductor Domingo Hindoyan. All six works here are familiar, the common thread being the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century French enthusiasm for all things Spanish. It’s the kind of program the recording industry thrived on in the 1960s and 1970s. However, there is nothing dusty about the playing, nor the modern recording, which possesses sonic depth while leaving plenty of room for the music’s subtle fragrances to float to the surface.

For all his reserves of Venezuelan fire, Hendoyan is taking a measured approach, resisting the temptation of the stands. The results are often revelatory, with much to stun the ear all over again: translucent textures, catchy Latin rhythms, and masterful musical adrenaline releases. Listen, for example, to the colors he brings out in Chabrier’s España, where the RLPO is firing on all cylinders with luxurious tone and distinctive solos.

Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso, every detail immaculately done, bursts with energy, shaking its hips as Snoke takes aim disrespectfully. Iberia, the central canvas of Debussy’s three orchestral pictures, appears fresh as a daisy, swaying, exciting and festive by turns. In short, an hour and a quarter of musical sunshine.