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Espona, Manuel (1714-1779) - Manuel Espona: Complete Piano Sonatas Volume 1 [CD] - Picture 1 of 1

Complete Piano Sonatas 1 by Espona / Mestre (CD, 2021)

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Manuel Espona (1714-1779): Piano Sonata. No. 4 in B-flat major. [Performance]. No. 9 in E major. No. 24 in G major. No. 13 in G major. No. 7 in C minor. No. 12 in E-flat major.

About this product

Product Identifiers

Record LabelBrlt, Brilliant Classics

UPC5028421960906

eBay Product ID (ePID)3048611542

Product Key Features

Release Year2021

FormatCD

GenreClassical Artists

ArtistEspona / Mestre

Release TitleComplete Piano Sonatas 1

Dimensions

Item Height0.39 in

Item Weight0.22 lb

Item Length5.59 in

Item Width4.92 in

Additional Product Features

Number of Discs1

Country/Region of ManufactureUnited States

NotesA Catalan contemporary of Scarlatti, Manuel Espona (1714-1779) is known now, if at all, as the teacher of Antonio Soler, one of the fathers of Spanish keyboard literature. Melani Mestre's recording, the only modern album dedicated to this composer, reveals that Espona was a fine composer in his own right. Like Soler, he composed in both sacred and secular genres, but much less of his work has survived. He lived and worked at the famous monastery of Montserrat, having taken holy orders there in 1733. He shared the post of maestro de capilla at the monastery's renowned choir school (which Soler would in time direct) with Benet Esteve. There are 27 surviving single-movement sonatas for keyboard, which Melani Mestre has edited for publication, and selected 14 of them for this new recording. Mestre's sonatas are notably individual in nature, leaving behind the typical Italian-influenced tradition of the first half of the 18th century, as exemplified by Joan Baptista Cabanilles. This is reflected not only in the way Mestre develops a highly original musical discourse, but also in his choice of key for each sonata, his modulations, his painstaking and elaborate ornamentation, his innovative rhythmic textures and a whole host of personal touches that lift these sonatas above the keyboard music of his contemporaries. Like many of those written by Soler, Espona's sonatas are characterized by their galant style, without foregoing moments of virtuosity, brilliance and restrained lyricism. Espona's own instrument would have been the harpsichord, but the modernity of his idiom translates well to the modern piano, according to Melani Mestre: 'the piano allows the whole range of dynamics, articulations and ornamentations that make up the Espona style and brand to be heard in even sharper focus.'