Ernesto Halffter - Sinfonietta; Elegía; Psalmi (Víctor Pablo Pérez)

Information

Composer: Ernesto Halffter

• Sinfonietta
• Elegía
• Psalmi XXII
• Psalmi CXVI

Coro polifónico de la Universidad de La Laguna

Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife

Víctor Pablo Pérez, conductor

Date: 1990

Label: harmonia mundi

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

This disc originally was released more than a decade ago on the Spanish label Discobi, which enjoyed only limited distribution in the U.S. (and also exhibited rather shoddy production values). Its reissue on HM is welcome primarily for the choral works, which are genuine rarities and, as you might expect from Ernesto Halffter, very beautiful. The two psalms are particularly attractive and typically Spanish in their evocative combination of austerity (Psalm XXII) and exuberant, sensuous allure (Psalm CXVI). While the choral singing (and that of the solo quartet) is a touch rough-and-ready, the performances give a good idea of the music’s character.

Halffter’s deliciously vibrant Sinfonietta is both a crowning glory of Spanish orchestral music and a gem of 20th-century neoclassicism. In fact, it’s so wonderful that you can’t hear it without feeling sadness that the composer didn’t write more of the same. This is a decent but not great performance. The string soloists perform well, and Pérez balances the antiphonal snare drums intelligently against the ensemble–they act at times like a sort of percussion continuo, and their frequent presence can be annoying if not handled with sufficient discretion.

There are two significant problems, though. First, there is the omission of the first-movement exposition repeat, not something that matters much in most romantic music, but essential in a self-consciously neoclassical work such as this. Besides, it’s beautiful stuff, and all the more necessary (secondly) because of the extremely slow tempo that Pérez adopts for the ensuing Adagio. The result tends to undermine the work’s otherwise elegant proportions. Neither of these issues afflict the two major competing versions, on ASV and CPO, and if you don’t care about losing the choral works, go with the CPO release, which features more of Halffter’s orchestral music.

— David Hurwitz

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ernesto Halffter (16 January 1905 – 5 July 1989) was a Spanish composer and conductor, brother of Rodolfo Halffter and a protégé of Manuel de Falla. After early studies in Madrid, he met Ravel in Paris in 1924 and later travelled widely before settling in Seville, where he directed the new Conservatory, followed by a decade in Lisbon. Halffter wrote ballets, incidental music and film scores, and was commissioned to complete Falla's unfinished Atlántida. His output includes orchestral works such as Dos bocetos sinfónicos, the acclaimed Sinfonietta, a Guitar Concerto, as well as chamber and piano pieces.

***

Víctor Pablo Pérez (born 1954 in Burgos) is a Spanish conductor. He studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid and at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. Pérez led the Asturias Symphony (1980–1988), the Tenerife Symphony (1986–2005), the Galicia Symphony (1993–2013) and the Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid (2013–2021). He collaborates widely with major Spanish opera houses and festivals and has guest-conducted leading international orchestras across Europe. His notable projects include the CNDM's ambitious "9 Novenas", featuring 5 Madrid's resident orchestras.

-----------------------------------------------------------