Mompou: Musica Callada / El Pont / Muntaya

Description

Frederic Mompou (1893-1987)Piano Music Volume 4Musica CalladaEl pontMuntanya (Dansa)The title of Mompou's masterpiece M??sica callada comes from the Cantico Espiritual of the Spanish mystic,St John of the Cross, where the expression m??sicacallada (music without sound) is complemented by soledad sonora (solitude that clamours).The poet explains 'that music is without sound as far as natural senses andcapacities are concerned' but 'solitude sounds out loud through spiritualcapacities'. In spite of the apparent clarity of the metaphor, its sense forMompou was 'difficult enough to explain in a language different from Spanish'.Beyond general understanding of these words, they seem to have a personalsignificance for the composer, only accessible through his music. Although eachof the 28 pieces has the brevity inherent in Mompou's musical language, as awhole the work represents his most ambitious achievement. The four volumesappeared between 1959 and 1967, the period of his definitive maturity, shortlyafter he had secured his emotional and domestic stability by marrying CarmenBravo and while he enjoyed the company of an intimate group of friends,Montsalvatge, Turull, and Valls, with whom he could share the worries of thattime in Barcelona. His prestige as a composer, almost as a 'living classic',was daily confirmed. His M??sica Callada isa summary of the most personal elements of his musical language, penetrating tothe heart of the 'mysteries of nature', but yet not without echoes of popularmusic. The work represents his position as 'backward' in respect of theincreasingly prominent avant-garde. Mompou renounces the idea of perpetualprogress in Art, claiming that 'in this climbing of rugged peaks it isnecessary sometimes to take rest'. Yet at the same time his music here reachesthe highest level of harmonic difficulty and abstraction possible withoutceasing to be his own.The first of the four volumes, each with adifferent number of pieces, was published in 1959 and at once sets the pattern,the character of the first piece indicated by the title Angelico, with a melody between thepopular and the religious, accompanied by chords of great simplicity, imitatingthe ringing of bells. The second piece, Lent,develops a single motif among dissonant chords, imbued withcharacteristic melancholy. The clarity of the almost popular melody of thefollowing piece, Placide, concealsa considerable achievement in harmony and instrumental register that suggest acarillon, with a melody well known as a tuning signal for a leading Spanishradio station. The fourth piece, Afflitto epenoso ('afflicted and suffering'), returns to the world of thesecond. Its harsh, tortured harmonies lead to a final resolution in E minor,unexpected after the tonally imprecise opening. The following piece has notempo indication but the required mood, legatometallico, is very important for Mompou, who had called the firstchord he devised a 'metallic chord'. The texture is dominated by the repetition