Given the passion traditionally associated with Catalonia, the land of Casals, Picasso, Caballé and de los Ángeles, it should come as no surprise that there exists a repertory of Catalan art songs giving potent expression to the changing fortunes of human life and love. American-based tenor Isaí Jess Muñoz is an ardent exponent of this literature, putting his versatile, well rounded instrument at the service of these works, which up until now have been predominantly associated with famous female Catalan singers.
Informed by a variety of literary influences, the program is emotionally wide ranging. Muñoz invests Mompou’s exquisitely melancholy cycle Combat del Somni (Struggle in the Dream) with a perfectly pitched sense of impotent longing, supported by astutely judged pacing and the sensitive accompaniment of Oksana Glouchko.
La rosa als llavis (The Rose on the Lips) by Eduard Toldrà is erotically charged, while Ricard Lamonte de Grignon I Ribas uses sparser textures to good effect in Cants Homèrics (Homeric Hymns). Haidé by Narcís Bonet displays marvellous elegance, which no...
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