ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909): Suite from the Opera The Magic Opal, Suite española (orch. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos [1933-2011]), Rapsodia española for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 70 (orch. George Enescu [1881-1955]), Concierto fantástico for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 78.

Description: The overture, act two prelude and a ballet from the 1892 comic opera (set in Greece but with marked Spanish characteristics especially in the ballet) add 15 minutes of music you’re not likely to have heard before while the two orchestrations of solo piano pieces are also well worth hearing: the Rapsodia reveling in the Spanish idiom (rather unlike its close chronological sibling, the concerto) vividly captured by Enescu. The original three movements of the suite española were supplemented posthumously by Albéniz’s publisher with Asturias and Castilla, taken from the Op. 232 Chants d’Espagne and also richly orchestrated, this time by the well-known Spanish conductor Frühbeck de Burgos, giving us a “new” 26-minute work. Martin Roscoe (piano), BBC Philharmonic; Juanjo Mena.