Search - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Francesc Valls, Gustav Leonhardt :: Biber: Requiem/Valls: Missa Scala Aretina/Leonhardt

2 little known masterpieces

07/31/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Missa Scala Aretina by Valls is the great masterpiece of the Spanish Baroque, a work of comparable stature to the church music of Bach and Mozart. It does not sound promising to base a work on the 6 note scale of Guido d'Arezzo but it succeeds magnificently. Valls is a specialist in the use of imaginative dissonances which gave rise to considerable controversy at the time.Valls apparently wrote many other Masses, including towards the end of his life, a second Mass on the same theme, the Missa Regalis. Are these as good as the Aretina? If so why are they still lying undiscovered and unperformed in a library in Barcelona?The Requiem by Biber is also of considerable musical interest and the performance of both works is up to Leonhardt's usual standards."