Joan Guinjoan: Phobos

The twelve-tone and serial works of Catalan composer Joan Guinjoán seem almost unknown outside Europe, and his small chamber oeuvre is not as widely performed, heard, or discussed as his music for larger ensembles, vocal pieces, or operatic efforts. This 2002 album from Columna Música presents six instrumental compositions, mostly of his middle period, which, in their disjointedness, sparseness, and atonality, represent Guinjoán's most avant-garde period. The piano works Digraf (1976) and Jondo (1978) are typical of the ... Read More

The twelve-tone and serial works of Catalan composer Joan Guinjoán seem almost unknown outside Europe, and his small chamber oeuvre is not as widely performed, heard, or discussed as his music for larger ensembles, vocal pieces, or operatic efforts. This 2002 album from Columna Música presents six instrumental compositions, mostly of his middle period, which, in their disjointedness, sparseness, and atonality, represent Guinjoán's most avant-garde period. The piano works Digraf (1976) and Jondo (1978) are typical of the pointillistic, gestural music widely practiced at the time, and Cadenza en homenatge a Federic Mompou (1993) may be regarded as a mildly interesting exercise in style, if little else. However, there are more attractive works on the program, thankfully not conceived purely in theoretical terms. Phobos for accordion and percussion (1978) and Prisma for piano, vibraphone, and marimba (1979) are charming for their displays of vibrant color and airy figurations, and the introspective... Read Less