Enrique Granados died in 1916, when the ship on which he was traveling from England to France was torpedoed by a German submarine. Though the wounded vessel eventually limped into port, the composer and his wife, fearing that the ship would sink, had abandoned it and consequently drowned in the frigid waters of the English Channel. Their bodies were never recovered.

A century after his death, scholars and performers have undertaken a serious reassessment of Granados’s legacy as a composer, as it is clear that his output was more varied and ambitious than he has traditionally been given credit for.Footnote ¹ This recording is especially welcome now, because it sheds new light on Granados’s limited but nonetheless notable achievements in the realm of chamber music. We will elaborate on that later in the review, but suffice it to say at the outset that this recording not only focuses renewed attention on his Quintet but does so in a way with which few critics and connoisseurs would quibble. The performances are technically crisp and exhibit both warmth and subtlety in the phrasing and overall interpretation. The same can certainly be said of Joaquín Turina’s Quintet, which though stylistically distinct nonetheless receives the same knowledgeable and sympathetic treatment. The quality of the recording itself is satisfying, at once vivid but never grating.

We do not associate Spain with chamber music, at least not before the twentieth century. This is no doubt a misapprehension due to imperfect knowledge of Spanish music history, and it may well be that enterprising musicologists will soon present to the world a trove of previously unacknowledged works in this genre.Footnote ² But from our current level of understanding, it appears that well-known Spanish composers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries specialized either in writing for the liturgy or the stage (e.g., zarzuela, tonadilla escénica, sainete), or for solo instruments, especially harpsichord, guitar, piano and violin. Names like Soler, Sor, Albéniz and Sarasate spring to mind. The most celebrated quintets composed in the Iberian Peninsula during this epoch were those by an Italian who lived and worked in Madrid: Luigi Boccherini, whose several works for guitar and string quartet evoke in delectable fashion the urban folklore with which he was very familiar.

However, regardless of the discoveries and recoveries that await us, the pioneering status of Granados’s Quintet in G Minor for Piano and Strings op. 49 will remain unchallenged. In fact, Enrique Granados (1867–1916) began or completed several chamber works. However, considering his repeated appearances as a pianist in chamber ensembles, it is very strange that he did not write more chamber music than he did, and that he did not promote and perform more often the few works that he did complete.Footnote ³ The Piano Quintet, as well as the Piano Trio op. 50, are the most important chamber works by Granados, both dating from 1895, when he premiered them at the Salón Romero in Madrid. The Quintet is a lovely piece but the less characteristic of the two. While the Trio exudes some of the regional flavour of the Danzas españolas for piano and the opera María del Carmen from this same decade, the Quintet will probably remind most listeners of Johannes Brahms in its harmonic and formal treatment.

In fact, few devotees of Granados would, on first listening, associate this work with him. But such stylistic versatility should arouse our admiration and remind us that reducing Granados to a rule is hazardous. Throughout his career, he composed in three distinct styles: Spanish nationalist, Catalan modernist and Central European. The Quintet belongs in the latter category. And in addition to piano solos, songs and chamber music, he also composed choral pieces and several stage works, most of them in Catalan and a very modernist style, with little hint of his renowned Hispanism.

Joaquín Turina (1882–1949) represents the full flowering of Spanish chamber music, with no fewer than 12 works to his credit. Indeed, one might argue that he was the leading Spanish composer of concert music before Joaquín Rodrigo (as opposed to Falla, who specialized in ballet, or Torroba, whose forte was zarzuela). Both the quantity and quality of his vocal and instrumental writing set him apart from his predecessors (Granados and Albéniz) and would later be matched only by Rodrigo. His Trios are delightful, but less renowned is the Quintet – hence, the importance of this recording.

Turina studied with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and initially aligned himself with the Franck circle of composers, before coming under the influence of Debussy. Not surprisingly, then, this finely crafted work exhibits a late-Romantic harmonic idiom and melodic character that bear no obvious stamp of the composer’s ethnicity. It appears as op. 1 in his catalogue and premiered in Paris in 1907. Isaac Albéniz, with whom Turina became well acquainted while in Paris (1905–14), helped him publish his Quintet, but with the proviso that he listen to ‘more familiar voices’, meaning that he should embrace Spanish folklore as the inspiration for his music. Since Turina was from Seville, this summons had particular significance, and Turina made good on his promise to Albéniz, of whom he later wrote that he ‘showed us the road we had to follow’.Footnote ⁴ Albéniz’s blend of Impressionist harmony with Spanish rhythms and modalities became a trademark of Turina’s style. The final work on this CD exemplifies his Franco-Andalusian shift. Las musas de Andalucía op. 93, dates from 1942 and is scored for soprano, piano and string quartet. It is a collection of nine pieces, each dedicated to a muse and a contemporary musical personality. The CD features the final movement, an eloquent and moving hymn to Calliope, muse of epic poetry (‘Calíope: Himno’), which somewhat ironically utilizes only piano and string quartet, not voice. It is dedicated to Turina’s celebrated compatriot and friend, Joaquín Rodrigo.

Despite their stylistic disparity, both the Quintet and ‘Calíope’ offer the listener a glimpse into Turina’s unique musical personality, one characterized by lyric sincerity and consummate craftsmanship. They amply reward our close attention, and thus the current recording is a welcome addition to Turina’s discography, as well as to that of Granados.