Falla (1876-1946) wrote two versions of his masterpiece, El Amor Brujo or Love, the Magician. The first is a more extended production with narration (or vocal lines) and transition passages, since it was conceived as a ballet. The version on this disc is the later orchestration, the one Falla put together in 1916. The narration is gone, but the mezzo-soprano role is still here. Falla"s other masterpiece, Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1909), began as a set of piano pieces, but the composer later orchestrated it around the piano as the centerpiece. This is a superlative release. --Paul Cook