José Ramón Encinar - Orchestral Works 1 [CD]

Rodolfo Halffter (1900-1987) is probably a little less well known than his brother Ernesto - I am not sure he is an inferior composer, but he did lack the hit piece Ernesto achieved with his Sinfonietta. Halffter also emigrated to Mexico in 1939, a move that definitely made a mark on his music. His music is inspired by folk-music, both in it's rhythms and it's melodic material, and the folk music influences is integrated in a crisp, often somewhat spiky neo-classical language that sounds very much influenced by Stravinsky and Milhaud (and very little by, say, Bartók). All the music on this disc, is light and fun and colorful, with plenty of humor and wit and many inventive touches and good ideas It is, however, the ballet scores that really show Halffter at his best. La madrugada del panadera (The Baker's Dawn) is crammed with good ideas, color and ebullience, as well as somewhat simplistic touches of wistfulness. Don Lindo de Amería may be Halffter's most famous work, and is a lovely, ebullient and inventive work. Furthermore, in the ballet music the movements are brief snapshots, and Halffter is at his best when he can present his good ideas without much thought of having to develop them too far. The performances by the Orchestra of the Comunidad de Madrid under José Ramón Encinar are overall very good.