XAVIER MONTSALVATGE (1912-2002): Calidoscopi Simfònic, Op. 61 (World Premiere Recording), Simfonia de Rèquiem for Soprano and Orchestra, Partita 1958, 5 canciones negras for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra.

Description: A 16-minute suite of music rescued in 1955 from an earlier unfinished ballet, Calidoscopi was lost only to be rediscovered and revised again in 2001. An Impressionistic introduction is followed by a rhythmically busy "Rondo and Pantomime", an example of the composer's ever-loved habanera and an uninhibited and primitive finale "a la indiana". The Partita which bears the date of its composition in its title is inspired variously by Milhaudian polytonality, the brashness of Les Six and neo-classicism with a couple of examples of Cuban/Spanish dance music (no other CD version available). Also not otherwise available on disc is the 1985 Simfonia de Rèquiem (a 1995 Marco Polo recording is out of print). This 23-minute work in six movements is the closest thing to a symphony Montsalvatge ever wrote (also the closest thing to a Requiem although there are no words until the end of the final movement) and it is a compendium of the various influences the composer assimilated over the more than half a century of composing. It covers a wide dynamic and emotional range with the Dies irae as searing and wrathful as any other you may have heard but with a radiant and ecstatic Lux aeterna preceding the final triumphant and splendid Libera me. Spanish-English texts. Ruby Hughes (soprano), Clara Mouriz (mezzo), BBC Philharmonic; Juanjo Mena.