Joaquim Homs

Using various arrangements of oboe, flute, clarinet and bassoon, this is an intriguing collection of music by Catalan composers for Wind Trios. The composers represented include Joaquim Homs (1906-2003) Xavier Boliart (b 1948) Joan Albert Amargos (b 1950) Antoni-Olaf Sabater (b 1959) and Domenec Gonzalez de la Rubia (b 1964). Columna Musica has a habit of introducing us to new and unexplored repertoire and this release is no exception.

Chamber Music by Gerard (a pupil of Schoenberg), and Joaquim Homs (a pupil of Gerard’s), available on disc together for the first time. Scored for Viola, Clarinet and Piano.

Schoenberg’s famous sextet is presented here in an arrangement for piano trio. Gerhard’s Trio was composed early in his career and prior to his period of study with Schoenberg, before his music was influenced by Schoenberg’s 12 note serial teachings and techniques. Joaquim Homs was a favoured pupil of Gerhard. Therefore this could be said to be a release demonstrating the music of three generations of teachers and pupils.

A pupil of Roberto Gerhard, the Catalan composer Joaquím Homs developed a style that, after experiment with atonality, led to a full use of serialism. His music, however, remains expressive and approachable. Apart from the early Suite, written at fifteen, the other works included here follow the development of Homs’s musical language from the Piano Concertino of 1946 through serialism to the expressiveness of his String Soliloquy and Piano Diptych of the 1970s.