Montsalvatge: Orchestral Works

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The BBC Philharmonic are in excellent form throughout, well marshalled by Mena, they and Montsalvatge's often spare, quiet textures captured in typically rich Chandos sound. A very enjoyable... — Gramophone Magazine, November 2012 More…

Release Date: 3rd Sep 2012
Catalogue No: CHAN10735
Label: Chandos
Series: La Musica de España
Length: 67 minutes

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Montsalvatge: Partita 1958

Work length16:47

$4.00

$5.20

$7.00

Juan José Mena, BBC Philharmonic
Recorded: 8, 9 December 2011
Recording Venue: MediaCity UK, Salford

I. Fanfare. Avec allegresse et dureté

Track length1:38

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II. Sarabande. Délicat

Track length5:33

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III. Intermezzo. Passioné

Track length5:30

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IV. Final. Entraînant

Track length4:06

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$1.75

Montsalvatge: Canciones negras (5)

Work length12:19

$5.00

$6.50

$8.75

Juan José Mena, BBC Philharmonic, Clara Mouriz
Recorded: 8, 9 December 2011
Recording Venue: MediaCity UK, Salford

I. Cuba dentro de un piano

Track length4:32

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II. Punto de Habanera

Track length1:51

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III. Chévere

Track length2:01

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IV. Cancion de cuna para dormir a un negrito

Track length2:31

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V. Canto negro

Track length1:24

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Montsalvatge: Calidoscopi simfonic, Op. 61

Work length16:05

$4.00

$5.20

$7.00

Juan José Mena, BBC Philharmonic
Recorded: 8, 9 December 2011
Recording Venue: MediaCity UK, Salford

I. Introducció. Moderato

Track length3:03

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II. Ronda i Pantomima. Allegretto mosso

Track length4:55

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III. Cànon i Havanera. Allegretto deciso

Track length4:29

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IV. Final a la Indiana. Andante ritmico

Track length3:38

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Montsalvatge: Simfonia de Requiem

Work length22:36

$6.00

$7.80

$10.50

Juan José Mena, BBC Philharmonic, Ruby Hughes
Recorded: 8, 9 December 2011
Recording Venue: MediaCity UK, Salford

I. Introitus. Andante moderato

Track length3:17

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II. Kyrie. Andante doloroso

Track length3:43

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III. Dies irae. Allegretto con brio

Track length3:46

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IV. Agnus Dei. Adagietto

Track length3:34

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V. Lux æterna. Andante moderato

Track length4:30

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VI. Libera me. Domine. Moderato solenne, molto tenuto

Track length3:46

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About

This disc of orchestral works marks the centenary in 2012 of the birth of the Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge.

It is released as part of our Spanish music series, conducted by Juanjo Mena, a fellow Catalan national and Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic.

Montsalvatge was one on the most influential musical figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the twentieth century. He explored virtually every musical form, but many of his most significant works, including Cinco Canciones Negras (Five Negro Songs), were written after his discovery of the art of the Antilles. He was fascinated by West Indian music, which, as he wrote, ‘was itself originally Spanish, exported to the Caribbean, and then re-imported’. In Cinco Canciones Negras for mezzo-soprano and orchestra he set a varied collection of poems from the Caribbean and Spain, adopting the captivating rhythms of the West Indies. ‘Canción de Cuna para Dormira a un Negrito’ can only be described as one of the tenderest lullabies in the repertoire, presenting a vivid contrast to the exhilarating display of rumba-like rhythms in ‘Canto Negro’.

Partita 1958, which, in the words of Montsalvatge, is ‘not entirely unrelated to classicism’, is strongly inspired by the works of Darius Milhaud, who had discovered the intoxicating rhythms of Latin-American music during the First World War, and had introduced them into his own compositions to sensational effect in the 1920s.

Calidoscopi simfònic derives from an early, unfinished ballet, El Angel de la Guarda (The Guardian Angel). The impressionistically evocative introduction is irresistible evidence of Montsalvatge’s genius as a ballet composer, while the finale is an uninhibited celebration of primitive rhythms with thudding percussion, snarling trombones, uproarious trumpets, and, in the slower middle section, a characteristically melodious cor anglais.

In spite of his immense creativity, Montsalvatge never wrote a mass or a symphony. In 1985, however, he did combine the two genres in a symphonic version of the Requiem Mass, the Simfonia de Rèquiem, which features no words and no voices until the very end of the last movement. Montsalvatge intended ‘to ignore the orthodox religious aspect and to concentrate on bringing out its profound, forceful message, which is both sad and sublime, by the means of the orchestra’.

Reviews

November 2012

The BBC Philharmonic are in excellent form throughout, well marshalled by Mena, they and Montsalvatge's often spare, quiet textures captured in typically rich Chandos sound. A very enjoyable disc.

December 2012

These settings are hugely entertaining and brilliantly orchestrated...These performances have been stunningly captured by a recording of exemplary clarity and spaciousness.

13th September 2012

The performances are immensely persuasive. Ruby Hughes sounds suitably seraphic in Simfonia de Rèquiem, but the vocal honours go to Clara Mouriz, tremendous in Cinco Canciones.

3rd November 2012

Each song is a sun-drenched gem, sung with gorgeous aplomb by Spanish mezzo Clara Mouriz, capable of reducing her voice to an imperceptible whisper when needed...All performed with panache. More please.

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