Conrado Del Campo (1878-1953)

[arkiv]

Conrado Del Campo (1878-1953)
was almost alone among Spanish composers of his time in taking his musical inspiration from Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Franz Liszt instead of the French impressionists.
La Divina Comedia,' of Conrado del Campo, approximates itself to Strauss's symphonic poems on account of its strength of construction.

http://www.amazon.com/Del-Campo-Divina-Comedia-Orchestral/dp/B00005QITG

[Dundonnell]

I bought the linked CD sometime ago after reading a review somewhere(can't remember where).

The trouble with having too many CDs and too little time to listen to them is that I frequently forget the quality of a particular set of pieces!

I shall listen to the CD again and post my impressions.

[arkiv]

Good, wait for your comments.

[Dundonnell]

Good, wait for your comments.

Sorry, only finally got round to listening to this CD again!

As you say, the first impressions are of music very much influenced by Wagner, Liszt, Strauss and the other great late Romantic composers. I understand that del Campo actually went to Bayreuth to study Wagner's music-which I cannot imagine was often played in Spain at that time.

Listening to 'La Divina Comedia' I am trying to imagine where I would place del Campo's music if I did not actually know that he was Spanish. I suppose that if I was guessing I might try d'Indy or one of the other French composers of that school. del Campo could certainly write for the orchestra-lush, voluptuous music sometimes reminiscent of Tchaikovsky, sometimes of Debussy as well. Not great music but very attractive nevertheless.

[arkiv]

Thanks for the impressions.
I have not gotten the CD yet. Here in the 3rd world is difficult to find this kind of records.

[Symphonic Addict]

Great to see this series of his SQs continuing. The four quartets recorded so far (3, 5, 6 and 7bis) have been revelatory.

To be released on June 21st.

[Symphonic Addict]

I've followed this surging cycle with enthusiasm, and now with this recent release my admiration increased. These two quartets + an Intermezzo-Scherzo on the surname Mi-La-Nes (a sort of homage to John H. Milanes, the British consul in Madrid in 1941) are truly substantial compositions as the previous ones that have been recorded. I don't want to imagine these ambitious works being tackled by non-prepared players, the result would be atrocious since this music is dense and intricate, it requires expert musicians to pull them off rightly and the Quatuor Diotima excelled in the task. Besides dense and intricate, these three works are full-fledged late-Romantic in style (and not particularly Spanish-sounding), displaying enormous passion and intimacy. Interestingly, the 9th Quartet is titled 'Apasionado' (Passionate), but I feel the 8th Quartet (on the death of the composer's mother) even more impassioned and it's a monumental piece lasting almost 48 min. in length. These works can be so fervent that they can also be a little exhausting, I don't recommend to hear these works back-to-back.

We'll have to wait for the next year for another installment. So far all of these works have paid dividends.