THE TRAVELLER

BASIL RAMSEY encounters Jesús Villa-Rojo,
a composer from Spain

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A Passacaglia y Cante for orchestra and tape is a journey attempting to move away from a material sense and yet becoming increasingly disturbed. The manner in which this is done musically eschews any single influence, building tension from the control and repetition of simple gestures in its own world of musical balance and counterbalance.

Texts from the exceptional Andalusian poet Lorca so overwhelmed Villa-Rojo that a song cycle of extraordinary beauty for mezzo and orchestra was completed in 1986. The composer speaks of the 'musicality' of Lorca's poetry to which he responds spontaneously [listen - track 5, 02:40 - 03:25].

The remaining work is Septeto, and its underlying purpose to relate several traditions and augment them with new material. Trumpet and trombone are amongst the seven instruments, often forceful and jazzy, giving a knife edge of sound contrasting with woodwind. The middle section has slow, almost somnolent notes creating a strange yet magical texture [listen - track 9, 03:56 - 04:50]. In some ways this septet gives the most complete picture of Villa-Rojo on this CD. I am now keenly aware of another composer whose ideas and music generate a world of their own.

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