It may be pure coincidence, but in 1626, it was two enlightened intellectuals from Seville – artist Diego Velazquez and composer Francisco Correa de Arauxo, who stood out for their ability to portray a microcosm of human emotions in their work. The surviving body of Correa’s work, the Facultad organica, was published in 1626. For its time it remains a remarkably forward-looking collection. It is especially notable for the dissonant harmonies which Correa, as a cleric as well as a composer, aimed to evoke for his listeners the hardships facing them on their path towards a longed-for paradise. Francesco Cera has made an album of highlights from the Facultad organica. The original volume opened with a collection of tientos, organised as a collection following the 12 modern modes – an exceptional practice in Spanish keyboard music. The first tiento was a calling-card for Correa, revealing his skill at counterpoint by employing thematic inversion and experimenting with different types of imitative technique. Interleaved with the dance-like, freely elaborated tientos are the glosas, which exploit still more virtuosic possibilities of rhythm and color – Correa himself was evidently a distinguished performer. The result is a collection of still little-known yet dazzling music that will attract the attention of all organ-music enthusiasts. Francesco Cera has made significant contributions to the Brilliant Classics library of 17th-century keyboard music. Among them are albums dedicated to d’Anglebert and an imaginative compilation of Gabrieli, Cabezon and Frescobaldi, ‘The Organ at European Courts’.
