Balada’s Guernica,
completed in 1966, is inspired by Picasso’s
large-scale mural of 1937. It was written
as a reaction to the pitiless bombing
of that small Spanish town during the
Civil War and a protest piece against
wars; when it was composed the Vietnam
War was still raging. So, the piece,
that also signalled an important re-orientation
of Balada’s musical thinking, from well-behaved
neo-classicism to a more violent and
radical form of Expressionism, has all
one may expect of a work inspired by
one of the most brutal and futile slaughters
in Spanish history. That said, it may
sound fairly tame when compared to,
say, Penderecki’s Thrène
pour les victimes d’Hiroshima.
This reaction of mine may have to do
either with the recording or the somewhat
reticent playing, or both. The music,
however, is tense, dissonant, percussive
and appropriately brutal in its own
way; and the piece as a whole is an
impressive achievement. Incidentally,
I might mention two other pieces inspired
by the events in Guernica, viz. Youri
Kasparov’s First Symphony of 1984 and
Nono’s La victoire de Guernica
for chorus and orchestra on words by
Eluard dating from 1954; to date I have
heard neither of these.
Homage to Sarasate
and Homage to Casals,
both completed in 1975, make for a contrasted
diptych. Homage to Sarasate,
opening with the skeleton of a zapateado.
It unfolds as a sometimes violently
contrasted collage in which whiffs of
Sarasate’s tunes are tossed around in
a wildly riotous context ending in an
Ives-ian row. Homage to Casals
is a more serious and searching affair,
and – no doubt – a deeply felt (and
musically more satisfying) tribute to
that great artist. It has none of the
wry, ironic humour of Homage to
Sarasate.
A commission from the
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne to
celebrate their fiftieth anniversary,
the Symphony No.4 represents
Balada at his most overtly expressionistic.
We are told that it includes quotations
from Swiss folklore but these are hard
to identify, although I suspect some
of them may be heard on track 4 (from
about 6’45"). The piece, however,
is a far cry from Honegger’s own Fourth
Symphony Deliciae basilienses
in which Swiss tunes are more in evidence.
Repeated hearings have convinced me
that it might be the finest work in
this selection.
Zapata: Images
for Orchestra is an orchestral
suite drawn from Balada’s eponymous
opera. Although many Balada fingerprints
are to be heard here, one often thinks
of Copland’s ballets, particularly so
in the first movement (Waltz). After
a fairly innocent opening this becomes
more intricate as it unfolds. The second
movement (March), originally based on
La Cucaracha, becomes riotous,
bringing in echoes of other revolutionary
songs (L’Internationale and
La Marseillaise among others). The
third movement (Elegy) is more serious
- Copland is again brought to mind.
The final movement (Wedding Dance) is
an extrovert romp in which a popular
dance tune rubs shoulders with Balada’s
own tunes. Balada, who has collaborated
with Dali, obviously has real affinities
with Surrealism, and this is clearly
to be heard here and in Homage
to Sarasate.
This is, I think, the
third Balada disc that I have reviewed
so far, and it must be the most immediately
appealing of the three. Actually, I
was slightly disappointed by his two
comic operas recorded on Naxos 8.557090,
probably because his expressionistic
writing does not really fit with his
"cartoon" tragic-comic
chamber operas. The performances
are generally very fine, although –
as I mentioned earlier in this review
– I find the playing a bit too cautious
in the otherwise impressive reading
of Guernica, which would
have done with some sharper contrasts
(or is this only a problem of recording).
Well worth investigating anyway.
Hubert Culot
see also review
by Paul Shoemaker
Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National
Orchestra/Salvador Mas Conde 
