Search - Federico Mompou :: Mompou: Complete Piano Works (Box Set)

Beautiful music, wonderful price, the real thing

M. Bauer | Colorado | 12/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are performances from the mid 70s recorded by mompou himself (in his early 80s, but his technique is great). Four CDs of introspective, deceptively simple, beautiful music. He's been compared to the Impressionist and Satie... this is Spanish impressionism and I find it less tiring and repeatitive than much of Satie's work. Recording quality is very good... not excellent.

If you have not discovered Mompou's work and enjoy solo piano, this is an inexpensive, delightful set to buy."

Worth knowing the composer's take on this music

John Gouwens | Culver, IN USA | 12/26/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Federico Mompou was not renowned as a performer, but he plainly had much technical skill nevertheless. Mompou's music is really not so easy to categorize. From the earliest to the latest works (spanning some sixty years!) it's not difficult to recognize that the same composer wrote it all. That's not to say it's monotonous, but there are certain harmonic idioms that are unique "trademarks." There's much writing that indeed has an "impressionistic" flavor to it, but more often a harmonic style with added seconds and sevenths that borders on the sentimental. His music generally benefits from much expressive freedom in its performance. Surely the foremost champion of his music was the late, but wonderful, Alicia de Larrocha. However, she apparently never recorded the complete works. Josep Colom did record the complete works (almost); that, alas is also out of print, but well worth obtaining. So what of Mompou's own playing? Surprisingly, a good bit of the playing is rather "dry." It took players like de Larrocha to bring out what this music can really do. Mompou often plays with the early-20th-century mannerism of playing the bass notes ahead of the beat (as one would hear in some recordings by Rachmaninoff), but done so much as to be rather irritating to listen to, honestly. There are some stellar moments, however! One of the most famous of his early pieces is "Jeunes filles dans le jardin" (Young Girls in the Garden) from "Scenes d'enfants." The composer's performance of this gorgeous piece is something everybody who ever wants to play that piece should hear - absolutely exquisite. Aside from that and a few other isolated highlights, I would recommend this collection mostly for people who might wish to play or teach this music (I do both). In that case, it's always worth listening to what the composer heard in the music, even if you decide ultimately to do it very differently. If you simply want to enjoy listening to the music, seek out de Larrocha, Colum, and to a lesser extent (in my opinion), an all-Mompou CD by Stephen Hough. I'd recommend them in that order, though. (I have all of them.)"