Quartet Records, in collaboration with Pentatone, presents the first album of classical works by Spanish composer Fernando Vel?zquez, best known for his orchestral soundtracks that have brought back the flavor of symphonic film music from past times. Recorded with the Basque National Orchestra, the choir Kup Taldea and the prestigious international cellist Johannes Moser, Viento shows Vel?zquez's skill in creating such genres as symphonic poems, cantatas and concertos. The album opens with his cello concerto, which combines an elegiac opening movement with a heroic, rock-inspired middle movement and a finale that employs the Basque Zortziko dance rhythm. Moser's masterly interpretation brings out all the colors of this exceptional score. The Cantata de Est?o (Summer Cantata) was conceived as a companion piece to Beethoven's Ninth to be performed prior to the symphony, sharing its scoring and key. Combining a Biblical text by King Solomon with poetry from the composer's own father, Jos? Mar?a Vel?zquez, the cantata celebrates the beauty and plenitude of nature and life as it explodes during summer. Viento del Oeste (West wind) contemplates a similar sensation, communicating those ineffable feelings that a perfect sunset can make us experience. Overall, Viento is not only a glorification of sublime nature, but foremost an act of artistic liberation, for which Vel?zquez has written music that feels most beautiful and meaningful to him. The entire album has been recorded by Marc Blanes and mastered by Chris Malone.
