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AN UNKNOWN SPANISH MASTER COMPOSER

Alfredo R. Villanueva | New York, NY United States | 06/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ONCE IN A BLUE MOON ONE LITERALLY STUMBLES INTO A COMPOSER OF WHOSE EXISTENCE ONE HAS NO IDEA. THUS IT HAS HAPPENED WITH CONRADO DEL CAMPO, AN OUTSTANDING COMPOSER STRADDLING THE BELLE EPOQUE AND FIRST PART OF THE 20TH CENTURY. HIS BIOGRAPHY INDICATES HE WAS MUSICALLY EDUCATED ENTIRELY IN SPAIN, THAT HE STUDIED UNDER THE LIKES OF CASSALS AND THAT HE WAS INFLUENCED BY WAGNER AND STRAUSS RATHER THAN BY THE FRENCH COMPOSERS OF HIS DAY. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORD OF HIS MUSIC THAT I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIND IN THE CATALOGUE, WITH SAMPLES FROM 1908 TO 1952. ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT I LOVE HOW HE IS ABLE TO WEAVE SPANISH RYTHMS INTO THE CLASSICAL IDIOM WITHOUT FALLING INTO ANDALUSIAN COMMONPLACES A LA CARMEN.

OPULENT, EXQUISTE, MOVING MUSIC. oN THE VOCAL PART, FRANCES LUCEY AND DULCE MARIA SANCHEZ DO A COMMENDABLE JOB, AND ADRIAN LEAPER DIRECTS AN IMPRESIVE ORQUESTA FILARMONICA DE GRAN CANARIA. FIVE STARS!"