PIANIST FEDERICO MOMPOU was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1893. Because of his basic shyness and reserved nature, he didn’t perform publicly. Instead, he found his true destiny: composition. His music, though totally unique, is somewhat reminiscent of Erik Satie and has some shades of Debussy, but his own indescribable and unique voice always shines through brightly.
I initially discovered Mompou’s music on, where the virtuoso classical guitarist performs “Cuna,” from Mompou’s Suite Compostelana. This is part of the Mompou story for me. Since I was diving into the wealth of Spanish guitar composers — Enrique Granados, Francisco Tárrega, Fernando Sor, Isaac Albéniz and more — I came to realize Spanish composers created a music that called my name. Their music was easy for me to embrace, and the Spanish composers gave me a new lease on my guitar life. I immediately started a Federico Mompou dig, and when I discovered Mompou composed mostly for piano on piano, I was a bit surprised. His 1962 Suite Compostelana composition is the only work he wrote for guitar. In fact, he composed it for Segovia.
