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?Following her acclaimed début recital, Marina Staneva returns with a programme of works by the Spanish-Catalan composer Federico Mompou. The programme opens with Paisajes (Landscapes), written in 1942, 1947, and 1960. The first two pieces are dedicated to the Catalan pianist Carmen Bravo, whom Mompou met after his return from Paris to Barcelona in 1942, and subsequently married. Mompou's Variations on a Theme of Chopin were started in 1938, but completed in 1957 upon a commission from the Royal Ballet in London for a successor to The House of Birds (a 1955 ballet which used piano pieces by Mompou orchestrated by John Lanchbery). The Chopin ballet was never produced, but the piano variations remain. The twelve Cançons i danses (Songs and Dances) were composed between 1921 and 1962, and the form for each is broadly similar a slow 'cançó' (song) followed by a more animated 'dansa' (dance), but the pattern sometimes varies, and these pieces are anything but formulaic. Mompou intended to provide 'a contrast between lyricism and rhythm, to avoid one collection of songs and another of dances'. Album Tracks 1. Paisajes~I. La fuente y la campana. À Carmen Bravo. Lento - Meno lento - (Lento) - (Meno lento) - (Lento) 2. Paisajes~II. El Lago. À Carmen Bravo. Larghetto placido - Quasi cadenza - Lento - [ ] - Lento - Tempo I - Lentement 3. Paisajes~III. Carros de Galicia. À Antonio Iglesias. Lento - Poco più mosso - A tempo I 4. Variations sur un thème de Chopin pour piano~Thème. Andantino - 5. Variations sur un thème de Chopin pour piano~Variation I. Tranquillo e molto amabile - 6. Variations sur un thème de Chopin pour piano~Variation II. Gracioso - 7. Variations sur un thème de Chopin pour piano~Variation III, para la mano izquierda / pour la main gauche. Lento - 8. Variations sur un thème de Chopin pour piano~Variation IV. Espressivo - Poco più mosso - 9.
