Steffen Schleiermacher - Mompou: Musica Callada (2013) CD-Rip

Federico Mompou's piano works are celebrated for their delicacy and initimate expressions, so any worthwhile recording should account for these qualities by presenting the music with the best possible sound. The pristine, unprocessed digital reproduction that is the hallmark of MDG is an excellent medium for Mompou's Música Callada, a collection in four books of some of the most rarefied and subdued keyboard music by this composer. In this transparent audiophile presentation, Steffen Schleiermacher plays with admirable control and a steady calmness that almost creates a meditative effect. Mompou usually wrote simple, folk-like melodies supported by impressionistic harmonies at soft levels, so Schleiermacher is careful to play with restraint and clarity, keeping the music atmospheric without blurring its sonorities. Yet he keeps the music moving forward through his moderate tempos, and he gives the pieces some assertive accentuation when it is appropriate. On the whole, though, this is a relaxing disc that is well-suited to daydreaming, and notwithstanding its exquisite qualities, Mompou's pieces are perhaps most effective when they are heard as background music at a low volume.