April 03, 2005

Ten Basque Melodies, Jesús Guridi

20th century classical music, or even very late 19th. c. by training, informed by Basque nationalism and often based on Basque folk songs. The liner notes describe it as Romanticism with "touches of modernistic acerbity". I can hear a reasonable quantity of that, and the tunes are delightful and not overpadded by the orchestration. Unfortunately the total sounds just like really good movie music. Ths must be partly an accident of era, that the first big movies were scored in this period. However, Así cantan los chicos especially seems subsidiary to something, as though the 'plot' was driving the music rather than unfolding from it.

I often think this of famously programmatic(?) music, e.g. Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I should try not reading the liner notes, in case I'm warping my perception.

Wonderful tunes, though.

Naxos 8.557110

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