This is an exceptional disc all round. Composer Leonardo Balada (b.1933) pioneered a fusion between ethnic Catalan and Moorish idioms and the most progressive avant-garde techniques, and even listeners with a professed modernist aversion will find his works easily and enjoyably accessible. Importantly, the music benefits from outstanding performances from three able soloists and the Barcelona Symphony under José Serebrier as well as from demonstration-quality engineering. The disc's budget price doesn't hurt, either.


Several of Balada's compositions already appear in the CD catalog, the best known being his "Steel" Symphony of 1972 on a New World Records disc with Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony. The pieces featured here have not been recorded before, and all were written since 1997. Pianist Rosa Torres-Pardo delivers a thrilling and powerful rendition of Balada's Piano Concerto No. 3, and the piece, with its remarkable pasadoble and organillo (barrel organ) effects, makes for a fascinating listening experience. Concierto Mágico is the fourth of Balada's guitar concertos, premiered by Angel Romero in Cincinnati in 1998. Here it's played by Eliot Fisk, who exploits its intriguing mix of classical and flamenco elements with assured technique and countless imaginative coloristic touches. The exotic slow movement, with many unexpected orchestral effects, brings the only respite from obsessive rhythmic bite and roller-coaster-like confrontational onslaughts between orchestra and soloist. The Barcelona Symphony's own principal flute Magdalena Martínez gives a vivacious and engaging account of Balada's Music for Flute and Orchestra, written in 2000. Again, the juxtaposition between urgent ostinato passages and episodes of unearthly stasis provides the background for another easily listenable work, especially in this strongly idiomatic performance.
--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com