This Spanish disc rescues
from vinyl oblivion a major Spanish
Columbia recording dating from 1977.
The Catalan composer Ruera had been
drawn to Greek culture since the 1930s.
As early as the 1936
ISCM he had a premiere of a three movement
work Empuries. That was
for 'big band'. Some of the Barcelona
nightclub slickness of that time still
shows through in the movement Danca
en cercle. In 1977 he brought the
work to completion in the version we
hear now as four symphonic poems for
orchestra. It is quite filmic - rather
like a concerto for orchestra with various
voices jostling for attention including
Bartók and Ravel. The end of
the third movement suggests a Delius-Tchaikovsky
hybrid. The music is unashamedly definitely
tonal (almost filmic on occasion) but
without much in the way of development;
plenty of spectacle and atmosphere to
compensate.
The string quartet
Ambients is in four movements
Presentation, Danca popular,
The Chapel in the Monastery and
finally Esplai camperol. Its
main forebear is Ravel with a patina
of archaic feeling especially in the
subdued third movement. The popular
dance movement and parts of
the finale recall the ‘dumky’ style
of Dvořák and the dance sections
of the Bax String Quartet No. 1. Only
in the last movement does the composer's
invention and treatment wear thin. Otherwise
this is very attractive writing and
with a performance to match.
The lovingly rounded Meditation
(also for clarinet) is said
by the composer to ‘reflect some moments
of a period in my life’. On this evidence
those moments were idyllically joyous.
Some meditations lean towards the lugubrious.
This one banishes that element; Ruera
must surely have been remembering a
very happy time.
Columna Musica have
now put Ruera on the map. He is of that
generation swept aside by the 'false
gods' of serialism and atonality. In
other times, listening to this music
might have been a guilty pleasure. No
longer. While Ruera is on this showing
no symphonist he is a most fastidious
and resourceful melodist and orchestrator
whose music will be well appreciated
in today's more accommodating climate.
Rob Barnett
Orquestra i Cobla Ciutat de Barcelona/Antoni Ros
Marba (poems) 