Catalan composer
Manuel Blancafort will probably be a new name to many. This
is volume four of what, I suppose, will ultimately be a recording
of his complete piano works. What I hear here is lovely stuff,
not what I expected, to be sure, and it’s colourful and,
sometimes, fun.
Blancafort
travelled to the USA in 1923 and his
American Souvenir is
a reminiscence of that trip. The two pieces are easy-going
and very approachable. The first movement,
Transatlàntic en ruta (
Liner at Sea)
depicts the sea crossing, with both calm and turbulent seas,
combined, I am sure, with his feelings on the crossing. The
second,
Homenage a Chaplin, is a mock-heroic portrait
of the great clown – Blancafort was a big Chaplin fan. It’s
a fun piece much in the manner of Debussy’s
General Levine
- eccentric and
Minstrels from the
Préludes.
Sonatina
antiga is a backward-looking piece: “I wanted to use
an ancient mould and create something new” but quite unlike
Ravel’s
Le Tombeau de Couperin. The first movement
is a kind of Bach Toccata but the language is angular,
different from the music which has gone before. The middle
siciliano movement
is more straightforward but with some “wrong note” harmonies.
The finale returns to the spirit of Bach’s fast movements
with odd turns of harmonic voicing. The notes tell us that
this is a unique work in Blancafort’s output, which is
rather a shame as it has more bite than the other pieces
on the disk, even if it does outstay its welcome a little.
Ermita
I panorama is in two parts – a lovely nocturne and
an energetic movement.
Cavatina i diàleg is
a stately dance, and the final
Romança,
intermedi I marxa is in three movements comprising
two slow pieces and a fast conclusion.
It’s
all very lovely, and easily approachable, music which simply
doesn’t get in the way of whatever you’re doing whilst listening.
And, for me, there lies the problem. Lovely music it might
be, and Miquel Villalba is a very persuasive advocate for
the music, not only playing very well but also supplying
an interesting and informative note in the booklet, but there
isn’t any real personality to it. As I listened I was always
conscious of someone in the background – Debussy, Ravel,
Poulenc (for a moment) – and the facile content didn’t totally
hold my attention. This music will, I am sure, give a lot
of pleasure to many but don’t expect to be engaged by it.
Bob Briggs
Reviews of other volumes
Volume 1 - 8.557332:
Neil Horner
Volume 2 - 8.557333:
Jonathan
Woolf and
Roger
Blackburn
Volume 3 - 8.557334:
John
Leeman and
Tim Perry 
Miquel Villalba
(piano) 
