Volume 1 (1CM0169)
of this Columna Musica series was
reviewed here some time ago. That
consisted mostly of orchestral versions
of works for piano; the exception was
the impressive Biofonia
(1982). Volume 2 on the other hand offers
purely orchestral works composed between
1964 and 1990:. the years of Homs’ full
maturity.
The earliest work here
is Invenció completed
in 1964, by which time Homs had fully
mastered his own personal approach to
twelve-tone writing. The title aptly
suggests an orchestral study. A slow,
dark-hued, rather ominous introduction
leads into the main section of the work,
alternating quickly changing moods with
shortened re-statements of the introduction.
This concise work is packed with invention,
and brilliantly demonstrates Homs’ orchestral
mastery.
The somewhat later
Simfonia breu ("Short
Symphony") is not unlike Invenció.
Invenció might
– to a certain extent – be considered
a try-out for the symphony. The Symphony
opens with an arresting, rather dissonant
gesture followed by some brief melodic
fragments that spell out the basic material
which is to be more fully developed.
The music unfolds in a quick succession
of highly contrasted textures, with
considerable tension and some highly
charged, explosive episodes of great
strength. The generally short melodic
fragments eventually coalesce in a grand
climax played by the entire string section;
and, after a silent bar, the tension
is finally released in the beautiful,
ethereal coda. As in much of Homs’ mature
works, the music is rather austere,
often rather dissonant, but never at
the expense of strong expression. Simfonia
breu is a concise, compact work
packed with incidents and arresting
orchestral textures, sometimes bringing
Roberto Gerhard’s mature music to mind.
Homs composed several
works in the form of diptychs. Just
think of Díptic I
for harpsichord or piano (1975) and
Díptic (for Frederic Mompou)
also for piano. Then there’s Dos
Soliloquis (1973), another diptych
in all but name, that also exists in
different instrumental versions, including
one for orchestra recorded in Volume
1. Finally we come to the Díptic
per orquestra recorded here.
The first panel Boires ("Mists")
is a beautifully impressionistic tone
poem (one may think of Debussy’s Nuages,
at least superficially), and clearly
a rarity in Homs’ output. The second
panel Gradacions stands in full
contrast to its predecessor. The music
now moves at greater speed, almost capriciously
so, although it is tightly knit in spite
of the apparent improvisatory character
of much of the music. This is clearly
a substantial work.
Derivacions,
one of his last orchestral scores, is
based on the last movement of Nou
apunts ("Nine Sketches"),
a piano suite composed in 1925. As in
the other panels of his final orchestral
triptych - although each work may be
played separately - Homs deals with
various aspects of memory, artistic
and personal. He briefly quotes from
several of his earlier works. I hasten
to say that one need not to know these
early works to appreciate the music;
it speaks for itself. What comes clearly
through, is that Homs is in full command
of his aims and means which results
in a greater freedom in handling of
his twelve-tone technique and in some
greater expressive warmth. In this,
Homs’ mature orchestral works are often
quite close to those of his near-contemporary
Dallapiccola, in that the music is considerably
warmer and strongly expressive while
remaining as strictly organised as before.
These excellent, strongly
committed performances were recorded
live between 2002 and 2006, with some
not-too-obtrusive audience noises. The
sound is quite fine.
With the recent Naxos
release that I reviewed recently (Naxos
8.570306), Volume 1 is to my mind the
best possible introduction to Homs’
highly personal sound-world, in that
the four works span some forty years
of his busy composing life. Volume 2
offers four substantial works from the
composer’s mature years and these clearly
demonstrate that Homs was an important
and entirely personal composer. I hope
that Volume 3 will soon follow, for
there are still a few substantial works
that await recording, such as Homenatge
a Webern and Memoràlia.
At the risk of repeating myself, I will
say (again!) that Homs’ music is definitely
too good to be ignored.
Hubert Culot