The accompanying notes imply that this is a rare opportunity to hear the original 1915 version of El amor brujo. In fact at least four recordings are currently available, of which this, unfortunately, is the least generously coupled. It is, however, by a narrow margin the best performance of the four, and the coupling, though stingy, is attractive. Berio's 1978 orchestration of the Siete canciones is stylish the sort of thing that Falla might have done himself had it occurred to him (it uses in fact, almost exactly the same orchestra that Falla chose for the more familiar 1925 revision of El amor brujo). Horn players are unlikely to be grateful to Berio for the staccato repeated notes he demands in ''Polo'', but they're very effective, as are the lovely solo horn at the beginning of ''Asturiana'' and the discreet castanets here and there.
Nafe characterizes them well, and takes trouble to get her regional pronunciations right. In the gitaneria version of El amor brujo she must be actress as well as singer, and in the latter role as much folk-singer as concert artist (the central role of Candelas was written for a famous gipsy dancer, Pastora Imperio). She's first-class in all respects, bending notes slightly and expressively, using the quiet and subtle end of her voice as well as its considerable reserves of throaty pungency. In a search for authenticity you could go the whole hog and buy Josep Pons's recording, using a genuine and startlingly guttural gipsy cantaora as Candelas (and with a good account of El retablo de Maese Pedro as its much more ample coupling), but Lopez-Cobos's direction is more vital and more expressive. The other alternatives are by the Swiss mezzo Martha Senn and the Carme Ensemble, similarly coupled to the present release (though Senn uses the original, piano accompanied Siete canciones, and there are a couple of minor piano pieces as fill-ups)—excellent, though again the conductor, Luis Izquierdo, has not quite Lopez-Cobos's fire. Nor has Nicholas Cleobury, but his coupling, for anyone interested in Falla first editions, is the most desirable of all—El Corregidor y la Molinera, the fascinating 'original' of El sombrero de tres picos, and both his soloists (Clare Powell as Candelas, Jill Gomez as the molinera) are good. A Falla perfectionist would add that a still better Corregidor (with Teresa Berganza and Lopez-Cobos) is available, though on another not very well-filled CD (Claves, 3/85).'