BBC Philharmonic Delivers with Roberto Gerhard

If you read about Roberto Gerhard before hearing his music for the first time, you might be surprised. Gerhard enthusiastically supported Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone system. He studied with Schoenberg, and the two became lifelong friends. 

But Gerhard charted his own way through dodecophony. Like Alban Berg, he didn't avoid intervals and chords that sounded harmonious. Gerhard was also an ardent nationalist. He was deeply familiar with traditional Spanish music. 

This release provides a good introduction to Gerhard's music. These works aren't mathematical exercises or zarzuela. Rather, they're a unique blend of mid-20th-century modernism with traditional Iberian music. 

Gerhard's "Don Quixote" took a decade to bing to fruition. He started the score in 1939. The work underwent expansion and revision over the years. "Don Quixote" premiered as a ballet in 1950. It didn't earn a place in the repertoire. 

But the orchestral suite based on the ballet received far more performances. The version here is the complete ballet score, with the interludes and epilogue.

This makes a great companion piece for Falla's "Three-Cornered Hat." The music very strongly anchors the ballet in Spain. And a Spain of an indefinite past at that.

And at the same time, the score has the sparseness of a Stravinsky or Bartok work. 

Juanjo Mena leads the BBC Philharmonic in some great performances. Under Mena's diretion, these aren't Spanish works, but cosmopolitan works with a Spanish flavor. 

A fine introduction to Roberto Gerhard.

Roberto Gerhard: Don Quixote (complete ballet)
Suite from "Alegrias," Pedrelliana
BBC Philharmonic; Juanjo Mena, conductor
Chandos