Xavier Montsalvatge - Piano Music, Vol. 2 (Jordi Masó)

Information

Composer: Xavier Montsalvatge

• Alegoria a la memoria de Joaquin Turina
• El arca de Noe
• Schubertiana
• Pastoral d'Automne
• Milonga
• Impromptu en el Generalife
• 5 ocells en llibertat
• Bressoleig
• Alborada en Aurinx
• Improviso epilogal
• Concierto de Albayzin

Jordi Masó, piano

Granollers Chamber Orchestra

Francesc Guillén, conductor

Date: 2010

Label: Naxos

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Review

This is the second of two volumes of piano music by the Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge (1912–2002). The discs are of considerable interest: To begin with, they chart the composer’s piano music in chronological order of composition. The previous issue contained works up to and including 1966, and this one plunges straight on with the Alegoria a Turina of 1982. The latter turns out to be pivotal in Montsalvatge’s piano oeuvre: It bursts into life with Spanish-inflected pyrotechnics but very soon we find the texture pared back to dry neoclassical clarity. Whereas in his earlier piano works, the composer showed a clear French influence—Debussy very early on, then Les Six—his later work turns aphoristic in the manner of his Catalan contemporary Federico Mompou. Harmonically it becomes comparatively dissonant, and less tuneful; the effect is sharp and bracing, even in music written with children in mind. Compare the well-known Sonatine for Yvette (1961) on the first disc with El arca de Noë (Noah’s Ark) of 1990. The latter, a seven-movement suite of animal pictures, maintains a tough exterior (with notable use of minor seconds in the harmony) and an admirable lack of sentimentality. Montsalvatge’s very late works are either short tributes or occasional pieces, but there is no hint that they have been dashed off. His final solo work, written during his final illness at the age of 89, is aptly titled Improvised Epilog.

The other point of interest in these discs is that each one also contains a piano concerto, neither of which is the Concierto Breve recorded elsewhere by Alicia de Larrocha and Daniel Blanch. The sprightly Concierto de Albayzin (1977) pits the piano against a chamber orchestra in motoric rhythmic patterns that combine Stravinsky with a hint of Minimalism. Lasting around 20 minutes, the concerto was originally composed for harpsichord (hence the clear rhythms and sparse textures); the composer reworked it for piano some time later. Reputedly one of Montsalvatge’s favorites among his own works, this substantial piece is a delightful discovery.

Jordi Masó, who has recorded all of Turnia’s piano music for Naxos, proves equally at home in Montsalvatge’s sharper-edged textures. He is well supported by the small orchestra and cleanly recorded. This disc, like Volume 1, receives an enthusiastic recommendation.

— Phillip Scott

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Xavier Montsalvatge (11 March 1912 – 7 May 2002) was a Spanish composer. Born in Girona, he studied at the Barcelona Conservatory with leading Catalan musicians. Although he began composing before the Spanish Civil War, most of his work came after 1940, blending early 20th-century modernist techniques with his own personal style. A versatile musician, he wrote across many genres and collaborated with renowned Spanish singers, including Victoria de los Ángeles and Montserrat Caballé. Widely honoured with national awards, Montsalvatge became one of Spain's most important composers of the 20th century.

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Jordi Masó (born 1967 in Granollers) is a Catalan pianist. Trained in Granollers, Barcelona and London, where he earned the Royal Academy of Music's highest distinction, he has won major competitions and performed across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Masó has premiered numerous contemporary works and built one of the most extensive Catalan piano discographies, recording over fifty albums, including complete piano cycles by Mompou, Turina, Gerhard and others. He teaches at ESMUC and the Granollers Conservatory, performs with the contemporary ensemble BCN 216, and is also an award-winning fiction writer.

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