Classical CD reviews

Rodrigo: Christmas Carols and Songs; Hymns of the Neophytes of Qumran; Music for a Salamancan Codex; Canticle of St Francis of Assisi. Several soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of the Comunidad de Madrid conducted by José Ramón Encinar – Naxos 8.557223 (72 minutes).

One of Spain’s greatest 20th-century composers, Joaquin Rodrigo, was born on November 22, 1901, in Sagunto, in the province of Valencia.

He was the youngest of 10 children of a wealthy businessman, but he was struck by tragedy at the age of three when a bout of diphtheria left him blind.

He was to live with this infirmity for a further 95 years, but this misfortune helped him to develop a strong interior world and also inspired him to become a composer, a very successful one indeed.

Rodrigo’s first compositions date from 1922, but it was the 1937 Concierto de Aranjuez that finally established his name as the most exciting composer to come out of Spain after the Civil War. He wrote music for practically every genre, opera being one of the few exceptions.

This highly innovative disc focuses on some of Rodrigo’s lesser known works for voice and orchestra. The 1952 Christmas Carols and Songs are settings of texts mainly written by his wife, the Turkish pianist Victoria Kamhi, who also supplied material for the Qumran Hymns (1965-1974). The 1953 Salamancan Codex is a setting of a poem by the Spanish poet and philosopher Miguel Unamumo, while the Canticle of St Francis is an extended and elaborate setting of the famous words of Il Poverello.

All four works are quintessentially Spanish in nature, but they also combine simple earthly folk song and a sense of spirituality.

Encinar and his Spanish forces give highly idiomatic performances full of Latin sensitivity that is as fragile as it is heart-warming.

Bernstein: Chichester Psalms; Symphonic suites from On the Waterfront and On the Town. Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Martin Alsop – Naxos 8.559177 (48 minutes).

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was one of the most prodigious American composers of the 20th century. Conductor, performer, teacher, composer, he was, and above all, a man with a great spirit and unparallelled charisma.

As a composer Bernstein was a man of multifarious tastes and challenging musical categories. He wrote original music for the stage, screen, church, concert hall and opera house, thus enabling him, more than any other musician of his age, to touch countless hearts through the love of music.

This disc is a wonderful tribute to Bernstein’s diverse talents

This disc is a wonderful tribute to Bernstein’s diverse talents and an excellent example of the ease with which the composer wrote for any genre. The Chichester Psalms were written in 1965 after Walter Hussey, the Dean of Chichester Cathedral, commissioned the composer to write a work for the combined choirs of Winchester, Salisbury and Chichester Cathedrals for an annual summer music festival. Set to a Hebrew text, the work turned out to be one of Bernstein’s most successful and accessible pieces on a religious subject, and with its contrasting spiritual austerity and impulsive rhythms it is able to create an ethereal contemplation of peace.

On the Waterfront (1954) represents Bernstein’s only original film score, but although this was a highly-acclaimed award-winning film, much of the music, which was also nominated for an Oscar, was left on the cutting-room floor.

This irked the composer no end, and he quickly fashioned a six-movement suite incorporating some of the discarded material. With its powerful and often savage sounds this soundtrack remains one of Bernstein’s blockbuster creations.

The Three Dance Episodes from the popular On the Town (1944), Bernstein’s first foray into the musical theatre, contain some lively and catchy tunes which betray the composer’s lighter touch. Excellent sound and presentation complete a fine addition to the ever-growing Bernstein discography.