The Naxos project to
record Blancafort’s complete piano music
proceeds chronologically. The first
volume consisted of youthful miniatures
written during the Great War. With volume
3 we move into the nineteen-twenties,
a significant period for Blancafort.
It was at this time that he was developing
his ideas about creating music that
was culturally tied to his native Catalonia
rather than associated with Spain in
general.
You may wonder what
the fuss is about because the musical
language of the piano music on this
disc is, in style, early twentieth century
French. By that I mean it is directly
influenced by Debussy and Ravel with
whole-tone scales, bare intervals, weak
harmonies and so on. So if you like
Debussy’s Images and Ravel’s
Le Tombeau de Couperin, for
example, you are likely to be attracted
to these neatly crafted miniatures by
a much lesser-known composer. You may
need to be warned though that there
is a good dose of Satie-esque naiveté
thrown in which may not be to everyone’s
taste.
There are three works
here. They are in effect suites: collections
of pieces that average out at three
minutes each. In addition there is a
single movement, extended piece, Pastoral
en sol. Blancafort’s way with these
miniatures tends to be to alternate
between fast and slow, the transitions
often handled by accelerando and rallentando.
The impression given is that the slower
music is the default position. In other
words there is a feeling that we will
always be taken back to a kind of melancholy.
Perhaps melancholy is too strong a word.
Other words that come to mind would
be "wistful" and "ruminating"
although there is a strong pastoral
element that is in keeping with Blancafort’s
quiet character and his love of countryside.
Of the suites, El
parc d’atraccions is probably the
composer’s most played work. It shows
a development in his piano music towards
musical unity, achieved by cyclic means:
that is, to play with the same themes
across the six pieces. In spite of this
structural device, the music has an
improvisatory doodling feel about it.
Blancafort would not necessarily have
regarded that as a criticism, believing
that he was following his hero, Debussy,
in the words of the pianist Miquel Villalba
in the booklet, "by .... producing
sonorities without intellectual arguments,
reasons or theories to justify what
he did." Villalba adds further
that Blancafort was seeking to write
music that was, "simple, without
excessive counterpoint or nebulous chromaticism
which would drown out our lyrical tradition’s
purity of expression". By "our
... tradition" he means Catalonian
and since the pianist comes from Barcelona,
his geographical credentials in playing
the music are impeccable.
Where Blancafort differs
most from Debussy as well as Ravel is
perhaps in personality. In this music,
Blancafort never really lets his hair
down or allows himself to get over-excited.
El parc d’atraccions is an evocation
of a fiesta, but it is a very restrained
affair: more English fete with a French
accent. I have been to Spanish Fiestas
and they were pretty raucous affairs,
even without the bull running through
the streets. But they weren’t in Catalonia
where maybe things are different.
Miquel Villalba interprets
the music in this spirit and certainly
captures Blancafort’s quiet moods and
there is much beauty in the fluidity
of his playing.
The piece I like best
is the single-movement Pastoral en
sol. It is constructed like a miniature
sonata in three continuous movements
and with more space it allows the composer
to take some flight. I was comforted
by the more certain sense of form, but
that probably says more about me than
it does about Blancafort.
John Leeman
see also review
by Tim Perry
Miquel Villalba, piano 
