Search - Federico Mompou, Stephen Hough :: Piano Music by Federico Mompou

'The Music of Evaporation' - Mompou's Piano Music

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 01/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In his extremely helpful (and superbly researched and written) booklet notes, Stephen Hough writes that the music of Federico Mompou is the 'music of evaporation,' and this telling phrase describes as well as any the special character of Mompou's piano music. He is often compared with Satie and indeed he was influenced by him, and by Fauré, Debussy, and Scriabin as well as others, but the major difference between them is that Satie was in his studied simplicity cocking a snook at the pretensions of art music while Mompou was recapturing the emphemeral innocence of childhood. People who knew him spoke of Mompou as being utterly without pretense, guile or artificiality and indeed some called him 'childlike.' If that be the case, it certainly appears that he was able to convey the sense-memories of childhood without an overlay of obvious sophistication. The music, of course, is extremely sophisticated in its craft, but this is in the service of rendering into tones a simple, uncluttered authenticity.



Federico Mompou (pronounced Mom-PO) was born in Barcelona in 1893 but spent much of his adult life in France. He was a musical Francophile and even once said that French music is 'the true music.' His music is generally gentle, only mildly dissonant, and always lyrical. He condensed his music to its essence, eschewing obvious formal gestures but using seamless and unobtrusive counterpoint, and consequently he wrote mostly miniatures, collected them into suites of 'Cancións y Danzas,' 'Préludes,' 'Paisajes' ('Landscapes') and the like. This recording, which won a Gramophone Award in 1998 and is now re-issued in a 'Special Limited Edition' (whatever that means; well, it does mean that the price has been lowered!), is essentially a recital of his music by which is meant that Hough has reordered pieces from the various collections to make a pleasing program. I had not seen the original issue so cannot tell you what if any differences there are between the original and this limited edition, but it appears that the program itself is unaltered. If one did not know the names of the individual pieces, one might think that this CD consists of one large collection, and indeed others have made the comment Mompou's complete oeuvre is entirely of a piece; once he found his style he pretty much stuck to it. Pieces written in the 1960s don't sound that much different from the ones written in the 1910s.



Mompou often set melodies from his native Catalonia but imbued them with his personal harmonic language which is heavily influenced by the French impressionists and Scriabin. He used a particular chord (Gb C Eb Ab D) much the way Scriabin used his 'mystic chord.' He occasionally used jazz rhythms and often used jazz harmonies. It is primarily his harmonic sense that betrays his style within a few bars. I first became aware of his music years ago from a series of recordings that the composer, himself a fine pianist, made on, I believe, the Ensayo label (later reissued by MHS). Although at first he sounded to me like a Catalan Satie, I quickly became aware that there was no intended artifice here. This music is as pure a statement of a composer's own personality as there can be. His titles are straightforward, without punning and satirical intent of Satie's.



What of these performances? They are superb--delicate without being fey, nuanced without being mannered. Hough is surely one of the few really great pianists before the public in our day. His recently released set of Rachmaninov concerto in live performance with the Dallas Symphony has set the music world on its ear, and rightly so. He has a penchant for exploring some of the byways of the piano literature and in so doing has championed works by such disparate composers as York Bowen, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, George Tsontakis, Xaver Scharwenka and others. His recorded performances of Mompou's 'simple' music has all the integrity and musicality of his other recordings and are a complete delight.



This is one to grab at its recently reduced price.



TT=76'48"



Scott Morrison"

Sublime Music

D. A Wend | Buffalo Grove, IL USA | 12/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have had a copy of this disc for quite a few years and even heard Stephen Hough play some selections by Federico Mompou in recital. This disc, as I am sure for many, was my introduction to Mompou. The notes by Mr. Hough included some lines by French poet Paul Claudel that so beautifully sum up this music: "Hush! If we make but a sound time will begin again".



The music of Mompou has no constraints of structure and lacks key signatures and even bar lines: it is free expression at its basic. One might say that Mompou is to music the way Rousseau was to painting. There is an ethereal quality to Mompou's and while it may sound close to Debussy, Satie and Ravel the music also bears the influence of Les Six and even jazz. Of the works recorded here, the Cants Magics are the earliest (1917) and, following the title, are like incantations for the piano, very dreamy and sometimes nightmarish. Charmes (1920/1) is similar in style to the Cants Magics and is characterized by mystery and the abstract. Stephen Hough varies the program by playing several of the Cancion y Danza (of which there are 13) and the Preludes (of which there are 11) between the more abstract pieces that provide a contrast with their brighter and more traditional rhythms.



Paisajes is the longest piece on this CD and consists of three sections: the Fountain and the Bell, the Lake and Carts of Galicia. The depictions are of real places (for example, the Lake was inspired by the Montjunc Park of Barcelona) but it was as if the places were deconstructed, As Stephen Hough points out in his notes the bell is presented not as an individual bell but all bells. The music is quite fascinating but certainly not for everyone. With Mompou one listens to the intonation and atmosphere of the music and not for tune one can hum. Stephen Hough plays beautifully, as always, and the disc is very nicely recorded.

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