Works by Casablancas, Casals, Cassadó, Granados, Mompou
Dmitry Yablonsky (cello),
Laia Martín (piano)
Naxos 8.579097 60:39 mins
Cassadó’s Requiebros gets things off to a passionate start, with an irresistible ebb and flow to tempo and dynamics. Martín is sometimes over-enthusiastic attacking big chords, but Yablonsky projects a wide range of tone with subtlety and control. They’re more evenly matched in the quieter Madrigal and Danza Gallega by Granados, not that there isn’t an emotional charge to the climaxes.
Strangely, given that he was one of the foremost Catalan musicians of his time, Casals’s Romanza has a far less Iberian flavour. It’s close in mood to the opening of Granados’s Maiden and the Nightingale, and the quiet emotion of both is painted in lovely colours. Cassadó’s three-movement Sonata in the Old Spanish Style provides the central pillar of the album, and belongs to the neo-classical tradition of the 1920s, putting Baroque musical gestures into modern dress, which begins to take over in the central Grave. And the final movement succumbs to more obvious Spanish gestures.
We’re in a different world for Casablancas’s brief tribute for Mompou’s centenary. It has a violence at odds with the restrained poise of the first of Mompou’s own Cançons i danses, and the French tinge of Casals’s Rêverie and Full d’àlbum. The Intermezzo from Granados’s Goyescas, arranged by Cassadó, brings us full circle to the hot-blooded opener, with both players responding to the contrasting styles in this well-paced album.