Musica Callada - 1 - Mompou and me

As the government goes 'into meltdown', I'm enjoying losing (or rather, finding) myself in the pages of 'Musica Callada'. 
 
As 2021 turned into 2022 I made the commitment to a performance of all 4 books of this mysterious work by Catalan composer Federico Mompou, as my first ‘major’ performance project of the year - the idea had been forming in my mind during the second half of 2021, and moved closer as I discovered the recording by James Rushford, paired with his own very abstract work ‘See The Welter”. I've know 'Musica Callada' for decades, but this discovery via Bandcamp was revelatory: I was struck by James Rushford's sleeve notes and by his profound interpretation - and as a result, finally, to use a phrase used  this week by Johnson - untruthfully in his case, of course - "I get it".
 
Mr Mompou and I go back a long way: I’ve been intrigued by his music since I was a hairy hippy piano student in the 1980’s. My teacher Mary introduced me to the world of Satie and stave-free scores, and Mompou followed hot on Satie's heels – ‘Cants Magics’ and ‘Cancion y Danza 6’ are the pieces that I remember Mary introducing me to. The former of these was the inspiration for a lot of my own compositional ‘juvenalia’ – suites of quasi-mystical musical noodlings, notated with ‘hanging’ ties, ‘space-time notation, and a spurning of barlines. Titles like “Phantasms & Majicks”, “Soul Cakes”, “Biomechanoid”…
 
And then, to University... In my second year, between studies, I had a part-time gig working as a ballet-school accompanist in Wimbledon (Margaret Fleming School of Dance), and later in Kingston for Ms Fleming's young protégé Christina Ross. Christina was studying down the road at the Roehampton Institute, and asked me to put some music together for a choreography assignment that she had to create and perform. I ended up returning to Mompou's Cants Magics – and it turned out to be great music to dance to. I dimly recall the performance: I hope my playing did justice to Christina's work, and that I wasn’t too nervous (or dressed too ridiculously).
 
Around this time - early 90's - on one of my many trips Up To Town, and to Foyles at Charing Cross Road, Covent Garden in particular; on the top floor, where I acquired my Giacinto Scelsi scores, my score of Arvo Part’s ‘Tabula Rasa’ and my copy of Shostakovich’s Preludes & Fugues (book 1); that’s where I got my copy of Mompou’s ‘Piano Album’, an Editions Salabert publication. And it’s here, I think, that I first encountered ‘Musica Callada’.
 
I’ve been playing Book 1 since that time - c. thirty years now... In addition, I've played a lot of Mompou's other music - Cants Magics, Impresions Intimas, Preludes... and during that time I’ve looked through books 2-4 of Musica Callada, enjoying the change in typeface in the printed music, and the typically Mompou-ian (?) appearance of the musical shapes on the page. Around 1994 I was given a CD of Herbert Henck’s interpretation of all 4 books, but...

... Somehow Books 2-4 never seemed to engage me enough for me to get stuck into them; maybe there was too much other music to play. I guess the time wasn't right. Last year, on hearing James Rushford’s interpretation, suddenly the music connects with me. I hear it with fresh ears; the time is right now for this music to speak to me and I, in return, to be a voice for it to be heard.

And as I learn more about each of the 28 pieces by playing and researching - making time for the music, listening deeply - the journey into Mompou's language becomes increasingly fascinating. I'll be posting here, hopefully regularly, offering glimpses into this process.

Stay tuned!

Signing off - 
Chris   
4 Feb 2022

Musica Callada Books 1 & 2 - to be performed in 'Pianoscapes' on February 20th.
​See 'Pianoscapes' page on this website.