Heavily influenced by French chamber music of the period, these piano quintets by two Spanish composers struggle to find a distinctly Iberian voice. Nevertheless, they make a companionable pairing, even though we have had to wait more than 70 years to hear them together on one recording. The Opus 49 Quintet of Enrique Granados is the more overtly Spanish in its inflections, with a drowsy, heat-laden central allegretto and a fiery finale, while the shade of César Franck is all too evident in Joaquin Turina’s Quintet in G minor, particularly in the graceful third movement, beautifully played by Javier Perianes and Cuarteto Quiroga. It’s only in the finale’s series of brilliant instrumental recitatives that we finally feel the Spanish sun breaking through.
