Leonardo Balada’s Fifth Symphony follows a convincing emotional progression, from an ominous opening in his avant-garde style, through a largely serene “Reflection” based on a Negro spiritual, and closing with a brilliant square-dance finale. I just wish that the first movement had not been subtitled “9/11: In Memoriam”. The last two words would have done fine, and there have been so many tasteless, opportunistic tributes to that awful day from the classical music world (most egregiously John Adams’ atrocious On the Transmigration of Souls) that the entire phenomenon deserves its own sociological study. Balada is too good a composer to need to hitch his cart to the 9/11 bandwagon. He has written a fine symphony, and that’s all that needs to be said.
The remaining works reveal Balada’s inventive ear for sonority (as in Divertimentos–three studies in string playing technique), and his inventive way with “found” materials. These range from Mozart’s Prague Symphony in the eponymous Prague Sinfonietta, to Spanish music in Quasi un Pasodoble. The entire program is nicely varied and admirably planned to show the versatility and diversity of the composer’s personal idiom. Naxos’ ongoing series of Balada’s music is establishing him as a major and truly distinctive creative voice, and as with previous issues the performances are very good, the engineering equally so.
