André Kostelanetz conducts music from Spain

Discogs

André Kostelanetz was a conductor of easy listening music. According to his wiki page he was doing that long before that term was invented, and he was still playing when the big names (Mantovani) stopped fiddling. He was active from the 40s until the end of the 70s. He died in 1980 at the age of 78.

I always get a bit nervous with easy listening. Too many easy solutions and tunes that bring you home too soon. It is nice if the main chord does not immediately dissolve into its natural counterpart, but waits an agonising long time to finally not even do that at all. I like to be hurt in music, and easy listening is anything but that.

Having said that, the pieces on this record are not really easy listening. They are just a small cross section of the interesting works of the romantic period Spain has to offer. Short fragments, sure, but serious enough for a listen. I’m not really convinced about the performance quality, but for someone not knowledgeable in Spanish music it might serve as a good starting point.

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