Joaquim Homs was a Catalonian composer, schooled in
Schoenberg's twelve-tone techniques, so one might expect to hear music that shouts "I'm different, I'm learned, respect me!" However, Homs' piano music, particularly as played by
Jordi Masó, speaks more for the person who wrote it, rather than for itself. Much of it is atonal and composed following prescribed techniques, but it is at the same time very evocative and emotionally expressive. This, the third disc of Homs' music by
Masó, opens with a set of Catalonian dances for piano duet that are actually polytonal and melodic. The three dances are sprightly and use canon and imitation frequently. The first one in particular seems to take delight in the juxtaposition of tonalities.
Miquel Villalba partners with
Masó for these and the following Andante, which is a serial work. The Andante and the Sonata are more academic-sounding than most of the works here, while the Toccata sounds like
Bach writing with twentieth century harmonies. The miniatures are the most appealing pieces. They are what give the listener a sense of the man behind the music. The Nine Sketches are based on poems (included in the liner notes) and are extremely brief. In them, one hears the anxiety of things going bump in the night, the rain running down a roof, the shining spring sun. Diptych II, Record del mar, and Vals de suburbi are equally picturesque. The final Presències are a musical diary written by Homs after his wife's death.
Masó understands Homs' work and sensitively strikes a fine balance between the technical and the emotional aspects of it.