I Albeniz / E. Granados / Martyn Brabbins - Romantic Piano Concerto Vol.65

Volume 65 of Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series journeys to Spain. The Albéniz Concierto fantástico owes much to Schumann and Chopin, albeit with an added drizzle of the Iberian peninsula; the perennially popular Rapsodia española, on the other hand, throws all such classical models to the wind. Granados never actually got round to writing his piano concerto, so our pianist here - Hyperion debutant Melani Mestre - has done it for him. And it's a romp. The first movement is pretty much 'echt,' from Granados's sketches for a putative piano concerto, but thereafter it's a hugely enjoyable "what-if."