Mompou: Música callada

Música callada (Silent Music) is a collection of 28 short pieces composed between 1959 and 1967, the composer’s final work for the piano. The music of Erik Satie doesn’t seem far away, but Mompou’s miniatures have a unique and personal charm of their own. There is no traditional development of ideas, no climaxes to speak of, no sense of departure or arrival—this music offers a blank canvas where pianist and listener can feel unnervingly exposed. Hough is completely inside Mompou’s idiom, bringing variety and an open-ended mysticism to readings that are deeply introspective, nuanced, spiritual, and meditative. He perfectly balances exquisitely sophisticated pianism with an essential simplicity. An exquisite album for late-night listening.