FERNANDO REMACHA (1898-1984): Piano Quartet, JULIÁN BAUTISTA (1901-1961): Seconda Sonata Concertata a Quattro, Op. 15, JOAQUÍN TURINA (1862-1949): Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 67.

Description: "rhythmically exciting in its outer movements which hurtle along like runaway trains and with a ten-minute slow movement whose delicate melodies and textures gradually build into greater complexity" was how we described Bautista's Sinfonia breve in March 2010 (03L013); it holds equally true for this work, written in besieged and bombed Barcelona in two months in 1939 (which accounts for the nervous quality of its slow movement). The work won an award in Belgium that year too, which allowed Bautista's wife to get Belgian consular help to get her husband released from a French concentration camp for refugees from Franco and his fascists.  Remacha was a victim too, although he came right back to Spain, was arrested and released to spend the rest of his career in nameless, internal exile. His quartet predated the Civil War, coming from 1933, adhertes to the prevailing neo-classical esthetic, with hints of Prokofiev, Ravel and Stravinsky assimilated into a personal style. Trio Arbós, Rocío Gómez (viola).