EVARISTO FERNÁNDEZ BLANCO (1902-1993): Piano Trio in C, ANGEL MARTÍN POMPEY (1902-2001): Manolas y Chisperos, GERARDO GOMBAU (1906-1971): Piano Trio in F Sharp.

Description: Like many other Spanish composers, these three hit their maturity around the Spanish  Civil War and were consigned to official oblivion by the Franco regime since they all had Republican associations. All were students of Conrado del Campo (you may remember him from an orchestral ASV release in 2001), who carried on the nationalist school of Falla. Blanco’s little 8:38 piece from 1927, with ostinatos supporting it throughout, has a whiff of Les Six and of the cabaret about it but both Pompey (1953 - a five-movement, 34-minute work employing bolero, seguidilla and other Spanish rhythms and material) and Gombau (1953, in the traditional four movements also evoking the character of  Madrid in a very slightly more abstract manner) remain firmly in the nationalist corner. Trio Arbós.