FROM PUERTO RICO

Somehow it is hard to imagine in advance the style of a Puerto Rican serious composer. It is all too easy to assume adoption of local colour leading to a hybrid concoction without the underlying requirement of a quality beyond simple dance music.

Roberto Sierra, on the evidence of three concertos, shows barely a sign of that. He studied with Ligeti, which must be an eyeopener whatever musical direction you favour. Even so, it would be unnatural for a composer with roots in a land so full of musical colour to abandon it, and Sierra has grasped from instinct and training a style which provides listeners with the amalgam that he has forged and finds acceptable to his own feelings.

Sierra's music generally, the fastiduousness in texture and colour, and also rhythmic gesture, provides elation for the careful listener. However we choose our listening adventures, Sierra is an unusual and inventive composer. [Listen to the Flute Concerto, opening.]

This CD has been in my possession and heard at intervals for several weeks, and I find personal preference for the Concerto Evocativo for horn with strings. It's the simplest in texture and colour, providing an interesting musical journey [listen to the Horn Concerto, 2nd movement]. The other pair of concertos - flute and two guitars - are drenched with colour and expertly scored to reflect the brightest hues [listen to the Guitars' Concerto, 2nd movement]. The choice is yours.

To listen to the aural illustrations in this review, you may need to download RealNetworks' realplayer G2.