Montsalvatge: Partita; Cinco Canciones Negras; Caidoscopi Simfònic; Simfonia De Réquiem

BBCPO/Juanjo Mena, Chandos CHAN 10735 ***

Nothing by Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge (1912- 2002) ever rivalled the success of his Cuban-influenced Cinco Canciones Negras, written for voice and piano in 1946 and orchestrated three years later. The music is tuneful and seductive, and mezzo soprano Clara Mouriz's new account appealingly captures the songs' shifts from sultriness to tenderness to animation. The Calidoscopi simfònic (a suite from a 1955 ballet) and the Partita 1958 show Montsalvatge as a colourful writer of orchestral music. The Partita is full of splashy colours and copious wrong-note spicings (Milhaud was an important influence), characteristics that infiltrate the ballet music in milder measure. The Simfonia de Requiem (1985), which set out to keep voice (soprano Ruby Hughes) and words to a minimum, is too portentous for its own good. url.ie/f1f2