Villalba - BLANCAFORT: Piano Music Vol 4

The Catalan composer Manuel Blancafort believed strongly in the importance of nationalism in music and was keen to follow in the footsteps of Alb?�niz, Granados and Falla, but always with a Catalan bias. Most of the works on this recording belong to a prolific period of creative activity towards the end of the 1920s. Depicting a transatlantic journey to the USA, with impressions of both the ocean and life on board ship, the 'American Souvenir' suite also includes a vivid yet tender homage to Charlie Chaplin. Inspired by the classicism of Bach and Scarlatti, the 'Sonatina antiga' surprises with its bold harmonic writing. The impressionistic 'Ermita i panorama' conjures up, through the development of a folk tune, the silence of twilight within the Catalan hermitage of Puiggraci??s and the view of the landscape from the summit of the hill.