{TABLE} Goyescas (1909-13) ....... Granados {/TABLE} THE six pieces of Goyescas deliberately invoke an image of Spain coloured by memories of the types and scenes painted by Goya. The subtitle of the work is for majos enamorados (youths in love) and each piece has its own poetically suggestive title, but it must be remembered that Goya's majos were the worldly wise denizens of urban back streets, only half disguised in the finery they had donned for a public holiday.

Goyescas fascinates by its mixture of romantic nostalgia, which owes much to Liszt, and ethnic Spanish turns of phrase: by its metamorphosis of low life into music acceptable in high society, music which is not without sardonic under currents deriving from Goya.

The performer has the difficult task of combining coarseness with finesse, of conveying a Spanish atmosphere while avoiding the picture postcard. Therese Fahy, in the Lane Gallery at midday last Sunday, steered a middle course through the ambiguities of Goyescas and brought a feeling of unity to the set. A Spanish pianist might have touched in the local colour with a lighter hand, but this performance opened a window on a not so familiar corner of the repertory and breathed a torrid Mediterranean air.