JOAQUIM CASSADÓ (1867-1926): Songs: Pour une larme, Le petite Boite à Musique, Zoraïda: Chanson de Orient, 12 Cansons dels mesos, Piano Works: Zerka tango, Toujours, Adieu des oiseaux au Printemps (alborade catalane), Gavotta, Pour une larme.

Description: When you hear the French songs and the piano pieces by this composer, father of the famous cellist, you'll think you're in turn-of-the-century Paris and not just because Pour une larme sounds like Satie's Je te veux' identical twin; Cassadó plainly had the French popular and café idiom down from the period when the family lived there. But the main work is the 40-minute song cycle in Catalan, with patent Iberian flavor, each painting vivid pictures of the months of the year and events or natural traits associated with them, as seen by a resident of the Mediterranean-embraced Catalonian coast. French, Catalan-English texts. Marta Mathéu (soprano), Mac McClure (piano).