Manuel Blancafort

[thalbergmad]

I almost collapsed with extasy after listening to the Piano Concerto No.2 "Iberico" this evening and had to listen to it again to make sure I was not hearing things.

There are some pretty major late romantic statements made in this piece and at times it seemed almost "Rachmaninoffian". I have little knoweldge of Spanish music, but my ears detected an almost Celtic vibe. This is not what I was expecting.

Anyone here heard anything by this chap??

Thal

[Mark Thomas]

Never heard of him, Thal, but thanks for the heads up. I'll go investigate. Details here, BTW.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

None other than Naxos have got the complete solo piano music in a series of discs. All very decently done, but I found it just a little all effects without causes, rather decorative and pretty, and maybe a little derivative (if you know Mompou you won't be surprised by anything here). I don't know the concerto, but I guess its largely Rach but without the same depth of feeling? In other words you wake up the next morning without the stuff still resonating away in the brain. OK, call me a curmudgeonly old sour puss. Maybe the simple truth is that each one of us just can't like everything, and my failure to almost collapse with ecstasy is attributable to my particular prejudices and not to Blancafort.

[Alan Howe]

Pretty stuff, but is it much more? On the other hand, I'm always up for melodically attractive 20th century music like this. Hmmmm...