Cuban Baroque Sacred Music.

• Author: Holston, Mark

Esteban Salas (Jade 7313835808-2)

The rediscovery of Cuban composer Salas's melodious eighteenth-century baroque themes, until just recently all but unknown outside Cuba, is being heralded in the classical music world as an event of equal importance to the reemergence of Vivaldi's music after almost two centuries of neglect.

Interpreted by two renowned groups, the Exaudi Choir of Cuba and the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos, the prolific composer's creations offer insight into both the tradition of liturgical music during the Spanish colonial period and the distinctive artistry of the man considered to have been Cuba's first classical composer.

"Salas is the son of Italian and Spanish Baroque music, particularly the Neapolitan masters of Porpora, Pergolesi, Carlatti, and Durante," comments Alejandro Masso, a well-known Spanish composer and musicologist. "But he embraced this heritage in the warmth of the Caribbean. His music is extraordinarily rhythmic and sensual. It always radiates an intense joy."

Included...