Turina: Danzas Fantasticas ***

It somehow seems as if the available slots in the popular imagination for orchestral evocations of Spain have been filled by a handful of Frenchmen and Spanish native Manuel de Falla. This new disc pleads the cause of Joaquín Turina (1882-1949), whose Spanish flavour is authentic and whose orchestration is as beguiling as the next man's. The music is picturesque, the moments lovely, but the continuity is as bitty as a travelogue that jumps around the place, and the Sinfonia sevillana is anything but symphonic. The most interesting work is the 1918 Poema en forma de canciones, where the vocal line, finely-spun by mezzo soprano Clara Mouriz, binds everything together. url.ie/f1f2