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| AGP29 features music
by Cristobal Halffter, one of the great Spanish composers of the late
20th century. Halffter was born into a musical family in Madrid,
studied at the Madrid Conservatory, conducted the Falla Orchestra, and
then directed the Madrid Conservatory while still in his thirties. His
early work was influenced by Falla, Bartok and Stravinsky. Quoting from
the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians: "Works like Anillos for
large orchestra (1967-8) and Lineas y Puntos for 20 wind instruments
and tape (1967) established his ability to work freely with the large
sound masses and more delicate combinations which then constituted the
common language of orchestral writing among young composers. At the
same time these pieces revealed an uncommon individuality, particularly
in their unmistakable expressive character: Halffter was using
avant-garde means, but in spirit he belonged to Spain."
This installment includes four works drawn from two LPs, on Wergo and Christophorus. The recording quality of both LPs is excellent, and the German pressings have characteristically low noise levels. Noche Pasiva del Sentido (St. John of the Cross) for soprano, two percussionists, and tape is from 1971 and is nothing less than hauntingly beautiful. Secuencias for orchestra is from 1965. Lineas y Puntos does an uncommonly good job of integrating instrumental and electronic music in a seamless whole. Symposion for baritone, chorus, and orchestra is from 1968. The installment includes a text file containing the extensive notes from the Wergo LP. Since they are all in German, they are an unedited output of my OCR program. The Christophorus LP ("Neue Klangstrukturen der Musik") has no notes particularly relating to the Halffter track on it. To download AGP29 files, right-click on each of the following links and select SAVE LINK AS.
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