La Vida Breve (Complete Opera)

"The latest in a series of recorded gems from the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and its conductor Josep Pons, this one a sultry, shimmering account of Manuel de Falla's gypsy opera La vida breve. Enchanting and typical of the work this label has been doing for the past forty years to explore the byways of the repertory."
Fi Magazine

"La Vida Breve (The Short Life)...is inventive and, no surprise here, filled with dazzling Spanish flavor. Most listeners are familiar with the famous Interlude and Dance, but there is a world of memorable music in the score. Soprano Immaculada Egido is stunning in the role of Salud. Egido's big voice is up to the work's dramatic challenges and stops the show in her big second act scene - here is the next great Tosca. "
Craig Zeichner
CDNOW

"Harmonia Mundi's new production makes a strong musical and dramatic case for the opera. From the immediately foreboding, anticipatory mood of the opening Josep Pons has the orchestral side of things well in hand, establishing all of Falla's mood shifts: the bitter sweet introduction to Salud's aria, the urgency of Paco's entry before their love duet, the sparkling, brilliant wedding scene. He draws rich, vibrant sonorities from the Granada ensemble, which boasts warmly expressive reeds."
Opera News

In spite of its not being staged in Spain after its composition in 1901, it was not long before La Vida breve brought Manuel de Falla international recognition. This tragic idyll in the heart of the Albaicín of Granada is a lively combination of the Puccinian opera and a subtle stylisation of Spanish folk music (so typical of Falla, and totally exempt of any specious "folklorism"). "La Vida breve is the first work of mine in which I am beginning to rely a little on myself and, I may even say that it is the one I prefer", he said a few years later. Falla's legendary self-doubt has gone: La Vida breve had asserted itself at the summit of Spanish opera.