Manuel Blancafort (1897-1987) Solo Piano Works Seven Peces de joventut/Youthful pieces (1915-17) [12:20] Nine Cancons de muntanya/Mountain Songs (1916-18) [15:18] Eight Notes d'antany/Notes from Years Gone By (1915-19) [14:57] Twelve Cancons/Songs (1916-19) [18:53] Miquel Villalba, piano Recorded L'Auditorium, Jafre, Spain, November 2002 Released August 2003 Naxos/Spanish Classics 8.557332 [Volume 1 - 61:28] Six peces breus/short pieces (1918-19) [9:59] Six Jocs i danses al camp/Country Games and Dances (1918-20) [15:23] Eight Cants intims I/Intimate Songs I (1918-20) [18:13] Eight Peces per a piano (1920-21) [17:54] Miquel Villalba, piano Recorded L'Auditorium, Jafre, Spain, January 2003 Released May 2004 Naxos/Spanish Classics 8.557333 [Volume 2 - 61:29] Composer: Manuel Blancafort was a Catalan composer who used the culture and folk-music of his homeland as a guide for his compositions. As you might have noticed in the program listing above, all the music on these two Naxos discs is early Blancafort. At this young stage of his musical career, he was concentrating on perfecting his craft in the area of miniatures. He later would go on to compose larger-scale music. The Music: Blancafort was a melancholy guy, and most of the pieces on the two discs are quite sad. Actually, just about all the remaining pieces have at least a tinge of melancholy as well. So we have sad music that is slow to moderate in tempo, introspective, light of touch, gorgeous, mysterious, and permeated with the whiff of sensuality. Volume 1 vs. Volume 2: At first blush it might seem that both discs are clones of one another. However, there are significant differences. The pieces in Volume 2 are of greater duration than in Volume 1, allowing Blancafort to convey some healthy thematic development and contrast; the Volume 1 pieces tend to merely state the theme and repeat it. As a result, there is a 'sameness' to Volume 1 not found in its successor. There is also greater variety in Volume 2, thanks largely to the "Country Games and Dances" where the composer eschews his glum personality and gets exuberant. Further, harmonic adventure really shows in the "Eight Pieces for Piano" which are quite illuminating of a composer making advances in his art. Best of all are the "Intimate Songs I" that find Blancafort at his most melancholy *and* inventive level. The titles of these pieces reveal much about Blancafort: "I still found withered flowers", "I went to the beach to relax and the sky above was gray", "I'm alone and unhappy", "Bitterly bemoaning my lot", "Nothing can console me", and "I have forgiven you". I imagine that Blancafort would not have made a good entertainment director on a cruise ship, but this music is captivating and filled with harmonic surprise. Performances and Sound: I don't have any alternatives to compare him with, but Miquel Villalba clearly has the pulse of this sad and luxurious music. The soundstage is excellent, allowing Blancafort's rich fabric to fully bloom. Don's Conclusions: A mild recommendation for Volume 1 and a strong recommendation for Volume 2. I don't exactly feel great about the 'mild' recommendation, because there is a three-minute piece named "La lluna brilla" from "Notes from Years Gone By" that I find to be a little masterpiece of melancholy and perhaps the best piece on either disc. The price is low, so get both discs. Don Satz [log in to unmask]