The Naxos label has released various works by composer Rodolfo Halffter in its Spanish Classics series. This album bears the same designation, but all of it dates from after Halffter's emigration to Mexico after the Spanish Civil War (he was a cultural official in the Republican government). His style continued a lifelong, slow evolution after the move, although it never became really Mexican. Furthermore, most of the music doesn't qualify as chamber music as those words are usually understood; the composer's three piano sonatas form the center of the program, with shorter chamber works taking on the function of interludes. As long as they're clear about what they're getting, those interested in Halffter can buy with confidence here; pianist
Maria Elena Barrientos has a feel for the subtle shifts in his style. The first two piano sonatas build a neo-classic language out of a Scarlattian idiom, with the second refining that language down to dry gestures under the influence, it would seem, of
Stravinsky. They're witty, concise, and thoroughly enjoyable. Sample the Scherzo of the Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 20 (track 8), a small masterpiece of shifting rhythms. Halffter's personal style persists even into the Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 30, written in 1967 at the height of serialist domination, and the various chamber pieces are attractive essays for small groups that could enliven any program of Spanish or Latin American music. Recommended for those who enjoy
Mompou, Turina, and other Spanish composers of the period.