All Homs’ works featured in the present programme are representative of his music and, especially so, insofar as they are chamber pieces in which his marked sensitivity becomes even more evident. The same cannot, however, be said of Gerhard, whose musical production was fragmented by the circumstances of his life. The Andantino and the Sonata for clarinet and piano are pieces he most probably composed in Berlin during his student days and whose manuscripts are preserved at the l’Institut d’Estudis Vallencs. Although we actually know little about them, it would seem that they were intended for more ambitious, longer works that were never finished. His study for the film Secret People is a sample piece, presented with a view to a potential commission, in which he exposes the two main themes he intended to use for the soundtrack. Although these works are hardly representative of Gerhard’s personal style, they cannot be ignored, as they serve to demonstrate his professionalism and expertise. Gemini, for violin and piano, on the other hand, forms part of a period of greater maturity and creativity in the composer’s life and provides us with a perfect image of the great Gerhard. Composed in 1966, it was released the same year with the title Duo Concertant. It consists of a series of contrasting intertwining episodes which greatly exemplify the polymorphic concept of his final years. Although it is a concertante piece, it does not prioritize the virtuosity of its performers, but rather the quality of sound based on a lush variety of registers, with poignant piano passages combined with the long notes of the violin and vice versa.

Text by Josep Mª Mestres Quadreny

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Artists

David Ballesteros, violin
Cristo Barrios, clarinet
Gustavo Díaz-Jerez, piano
 

Reviews

‘The value of this recording by Barrios, Ballesteros and Díaz-Jerez is unquestionable by their understanding of the style and for their intelligent use of technique and expressive resources’. (MELÓMANO MAGAZINE)

‘Columna Música presents here a brilliant performance of a not well known repertoire by Homs and Gerhard’ (SCHERZO MAGAZINE)

‘Homs’s 1972 Soliloquy for solo clarinet is representative of his work in a way that the disparate. It’s very finely organised and performed.’ (MUSICAL WEB)

‘Keep an eye on this new CD release, not only because it’s wise and successful performance but also because of its idea and concept.’ (440 CLÁSSICA)
 

List of works

Robert Gerhard
Study for the movie Secret People for violin, clarinet and piano (1952)
Joaquim Homs
Soliloqui for clarinet solo (1972)
Joaquim Homs
Impromptu for violin and piano
Robert Gerhard
Sonata for clarinet and piano (1928)
Robert Gerhard
Dos apunts for piano solo (1922)
Joaquim Homs
Dues invencions for clarinet and piano (1963)
Joaquim Homs
Sonata for violin solo (1941)
Robert Gerhard
Andantino for violin, clarinet and piano (1929)
Joaquim Homs
Trio for violin, clarinet and piano (1974)