Manfred (1945): suite [24.50]
Bric à brac (1993) [15.40]
Simfonia da Requiem (1985) [20.41]*
Marta Matheu (soprano)*
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra/Victor Pablo Pérez
rec. Pau Casals Hall, Barcelona, 9-12 July 2012
NAXOS SPANISH CLASSICS 8.573077 [61.07]
Although Naxos do not claim that any of the works featured on this
disc are world première recordings, the current catalogues do
not appear to show any alternative versions of either Manfred
or Bric à brac. The Simfonia da Requiem made its
first appearance on disc as long ago as 1995 in a live Madrid concert
performance, and has also been included in a Chandos anthology issued
in 2012. It is the most substantial work on this disc, which is described
as an “overview” of Montsalvatge’s orchestral music.
Like the similarly named Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, it consists
of a series of movements taking their title from various sections of
the Requiem Mass. Unlike the Britten, it also includes a vocal section
in the shape of a soprano soloist who enters towards the end of the
final movement to sing the words “Requiem aeternam dona nobis,
Domine, Amen” in a brief contribution. The informative booklet
notes (in English and Spanish) by David Puertas Esteve inform us that
this soprano solo is shown in the score as “optional”, but
all the recordings feature a soprano to bring the work to a conclusion.
Marta Matheu is effective here.
Again unlike Britten, Montsalvatge makes some use of plainchant in the
shape of the familiar “Dies irae” during the third movement
with that title (track 8). However the work, with its six disparate
movements, does not make the same impact as Britten’s piece written
over forty years earlier. It may be that the individual movements are
too brief - all under four minutes - to build up a real symphonic head
of steam. The orchestra play excellently throughout, and the sound is
thoroughly acceptable even if I imagine it lacks the richness of the
standard Chandos acoustic (although I have not heard that disc). It
is certainly a decided improvement on the earlier Madrid performance
which appeared on Naxos’s sister label Marco Polo … which
I have heard. That was also considerably slower: all of the movements
in the earlier version were over four minutes long, with the Lux
aeterna (track 10) extended from three-and-a-half minutes here to
over five minutes. That’s an extraordinary difference in such
a short movement. The playing of the Barcelona orchestra in the studio
is considerably ahead of the sometimes rather tentative approach of
the Madrid instrumentalists under concert conditions.
The other two works on this disc come from opposite ends of Montsalvatge’s
composing career. Manfred is a suite extracted from a ballet,
but the music sounds very symphonic indeed during the opening pages,
more like a tone poem than a score designed for dancing. The booklet
notes refer to the “rhythmic influence of Stravinsky” but
certainly during the first half of the score one detects more the shade
of Richard Strauss, with the darting woodwind figuration - presumably
intended to depict the Alpine fairy appearing to Manfred in a waterfall
- oddly reminiscent of the music for the trainbearer and confidante
in Elektra. Quite suddenly, about half-way through, the music
becomes much more balletic in mood, with overtones of Russian scores
in the same medium - although not so much Stravinsky as Tchaikovsky
and Prokofiev. The booklet note does not give us the scenario of the
ballet; but presumably it closely follows Byron’s poem, in the
same manner as Schumann and Tchaikovsky’s works on the same subject.
The complete ballet apparently lasts about an hour, and the excerpts
we are given here whet the appetite for the rest.
Bric à brac, Montsalvatge’s rather discouragingly
titled last orchestral work, lacks the sheer profile of the music for
the earlier ballet. It consists of four brief tone pictures, and the
conductor on this disc gave the first performance of the work with the
Tenerife Symphony Orchestra - not this orchestra, as claimed on the
back of the disc. The first movement quotes a folksong from the Canary
Islands. I cannot say that any of the movements made much of an impact
on me, but the music is eminently approachable and the orchestral playing
makes a good case for the work. These players have given performances
of virtually all Montsalvatge’s orchestral works over the years,
including no fewer than twelve world premières. They clearly
have the feeling for their fellow Catalan in their bones.
For many years the reputation of Montsalvatge outside Spain rested largely
on the occasional appearances of his songs in recitals by Spanish singers.
In more recent years his music, always well constructed and appealing
to audiences, has gained a wider circulation through such works as the
Concierto breve. This Naxos release is a valuable contribution
to this continuing process. Is there any possibility that the series
could be extended?
Paul Corfield Godfrey
And a second review ...
The Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge was born in Girona. His music
studies took him to Barcelona where he developed Gallic sympathies.
These are reflected somewhat in his music. For many music enthusiasts,
if they know him at all it is through the Cinco
canciones negrasof 1946. These were once recorded by
Victoria de los Angeles for EMI Classics in 1962.
The notes tell us that Alicia de Larrocha championed his Concierto
breve (1953) (review
review)
and Narciso Yepes his guitar concerto Metamorfosis de concierto
(1981); the latter unrecorded as far as I am aware. There are also three
operas (El gato con botas, Una voce and Babel 46),
twenty film soundtracks, choral works and chamber pieces.
Montsalvatge has written of his music that:-
“I do not need serial techniques because I am against rigid orthodoxy,
whether left- or right-wing. I admire Béla Bartók, Hindemith
and, above all, Stravinsky, whom I see as the prototype composer of
my time. In the contrast between consonance and dissonance, and between
tonality and atonality, I look for an element that will light up my
music. I believe that art should have ancestry, breeding, and be rooted
in a clearly defined age. With this in mind, I try to follow my own
path. … I have never thought of music as being radically abstract,
and still less as formulaic. Something of ourselves is inscribed in
every note, every symbol we put down on paper: something of our sincerity,
our intimate feelings, even of our faults, our cynicism and the lies
we tell.”
Manfred (1945) is one of dozens of Montsalvatge ballet scores.
This one lasts about an hour but what has been recorded here seems to
be an epitome of the full score played as a single continuous entity.
It is all very approachable. As befits its subject it is accessibly
romantic in a late 19th century manner but with textures
made airy and lucid. So much so that the strongest influence in this
fluid and long-lined writing is the Tchaikovsky of Romeo and Juliet
and the Liszt of Les Preludes. The kaleidoscopic nature of the
work bring us elements that sound a little like Beethoven and then Delibes
- even Offenbach at times. If you were being uncharitable you might
call it something of a mish-mash with all these colliding elements,
some of them bombastic. I confess that the Stravinskian rhythmic elements
claimed by the liner-notes escape me completely.
Bric à brac is his last orchestral work and was written
almost a decade before his death. The four short movements are atmospheric
little vignettes - all securely tonal: a mistily impressionistic Evocador
with some magical Tchaikovskian writing for strings; a querulous and
questing Sesgado (tranquil) that gradually becomes sentimental
in the manner of Bax’s later works; a moody Tenso with
a more prominent role for percussion with some early Stravinskian urgency
and a final Lúdico (playful) sounding like a Goossens
miniature gawkily meeting de Falla.. This was premiered by Orquesta
Sinfónica de Tenerife conducted by Víctor Pablo Pérez,
on 30 September 1993.
The Simfonia da Rèquiem is in six movements with titles
reflecting the inspiration from the Mass: I. Introitus 3:29; II. Kyrie
3:37; III. Dies irae 3:41; IV. Agnus Dei 3:28; V. Lux aeterna 3:30;
VI. Libera me, Domine 2:55. Although Montsalvatge introduced a solo
voice very briefly indeed in the finale the symphony bears a resemblance
- in plan at least - to Howard Hanson’s Fourth Symphony. The first
movement toys with the Dies Irae theme in gentle dissonance. A thoughtfully
musing Kyrie is followed by an angst-ridden Dies irae.
A drifting and kindly Agnus Dei is succeeded by a thrumming Lux
Aeterna that shares atmosphere with the Dies Irae. It does
soamid language that finds an intersection between Bax and Messiaen.
There’s more crunching and grinding intimations of Messiaen in
the final Libera Me.
Over the years the site has reviewed various Montsalvatge CDs. These
reviews of full price discs are worth a look. The piano music is on
Columna
Musica. There’s also an outstanding and very accessible Chandos
collection which includes the Negro Songs and the Simfonia
de Rèquiem (review
~ review);
not to forget a centenary disc also from Columna
Musica.
This is not the first time that Naxos has turned to this composer. In
the 1990s the Marco Polo label issued a CD (8.223753) of the Concierto
Breve and the Simfonia da Requiem with some Rodrigo. Antoni
Ros-Marba conducted the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. However that disc
has now disappeared from circulation.
Montsalvage is an intriguing composer and on this evidence is a master
of mood conjured concisely.
Rob Barnett
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