This is a lively and captivating disc of music that’s very much of its time and place (1870s), but in a good way. The Fantasía morisca has four colorfully orchestrated movements…You’re going to love it, and the music is all the more remarkable…

A bargain for admirers of Chapi’s colourful and tuneful music

These are two early works. Both premiered in 1879, although the four-movement Fantasia morisca was an orchestral reworking of a suite for military band of six years earlier.

Chapi wrote Fantasia Morisca (Moorish Fantasy, originally La Corte de Granada: Fantasia Morisca) for an 1873 competition sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of the Arts. The orchestra version appeared in 1879 just before his return to Madrid. It starts with the light woodwind touch of a Tchaikovsky ballet, but before long it seems Italian enough to sound like something from the pit of a bel canto opera. Nor does it escape the world of band music where it was born. The second half of I, a marcha al torneo (march to the tournament), sounds more Spanish, but for a street march it is restrained and noble. II begins with woodwind fanfares followed by a choral-type response. This leads to a quasi-Italian arioso, though clever ideas like a flute cadenza add a touch of the improvisatory. III combines one theme in the minor that sounds like a scene from Verdi’s Rigoletto with one in the major triggered by a brass choral to produce something like a Spanish dance. The finale develops the woodwind fanfares from II and brings back the march from I.

The Symphony in D minor (1877, revised later) is a very different and more mature piece, though it is a student work. The Italian influence has not disappeared but is in large measure replaced by German romanticism. The symphony’s long slow introduction offers a good imitation of Beethoven by building tension through subtle, sustained dissonance. The Allegro that breaks out takes us to Schumann’s Manfred Overture before exploring territory between Beethoven and Schumann without settling on either or synthesizing anything new. Andante con Moto Espressivo presents a beautiful opening melody that sounds like Italian Beethoven, a noble, strutting march in the brass, and a well-developed, rolling Italian tune. The accompaniment that runs alongside is sometimes Italianate and catchy and sometimes flowing counterpoint. After Chapi broadens the brass march to create a climax, a sweet-natured coda closes a beautifully developed movement. The Presto alternates a lively tune based on triplets with lyrical trio sections. The good-natured ‘Final’ carries over the skittery character of the Presto in its Rossini-ish main theme, though it looks to early Beethoven for its harmony, rhythmic character, and the emphatic ending. The Symphony in D minor is good-natured, restrained, yet energetic and quite inventive. Too bad it’s Chapi’s only work in the form. The performances are among the best in the Naxos Spanish series.