Many of the works on this album, including 'Cançons de muntanya' and 'Remembrances', are world premiere recordings of arrangements by Miquel Villalba for voice and piano.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Blancafort's music aimed for clarity and simplicity, rejecting German transcendentalism and seeking to express 'Catalan things in a European idiom'.
Composer Biography
Blancafort's father owned a factory producing pianola rolls, which became Blancafort's music school, allowing him to study various musical styles.
Composition History
Blancafort's promising career was cut short by family demands (eleven children), the closure of his father's factory due to the gramophone's success, and the Spanish Civil War.
Historical Context
Blancafort was part of the Noucentisme movement (1914-39), a Catalan cultural movement that rejected Romanticism and Wagnerian pathos in favor of Classicism and beauty.
Composer Biography
Manuel Blancafort, the composer, was born in La Garriga, near Barcelona, into a family that owned a hotel frequented by artists and intellectuals.
Cultural Impact
Blancafort's songs are seen as embodying 'the living synthesis of Catalan musical culture' and reflect the dreams of a country aspiring to be free and cultured.
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