MOMPOU: Piano Music vol. 1

Masó, Jordi

8.554332

It is this love for popular Catalan culture that makes Mompou's Cancons i Danses (Songs and Dances) one of his most important works. At least they are, of all his creations, the best-known in his own country, and the fact that their composition spreads over nearly the whole of his life, from 1918 to 1962, makes them all the more interesting. The pairing of a slow song followed by a more animated dance reminds one of the combination of prelude and fugue, or dances such as the Hungarian Csardas. The thirteen pieces written for piano, almost the only instrument Mompou composed for (Canco i Dansa No. 13 also exists for guitar, and No. 15 for organ) on the whole represent adaptations of popular Catalan songs. If setting traditional tunes to harmony is very common amongst composers of his time, Mompou shines in this art: his ability to give a song a harmony which appears simple and natural, but at the same time original and highly sophisticated, is one of his greatest secrets.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Naxos

09-11-1998

636943433225