Of the fifteen songs and dances, thirteen (the first twelve and No. 14) were originally for piano and the other two, No. 13 and No. 15, were for guitar and organ respectively. It is these that we are now pleased to present to pianists the world over thanks to the work done by pianist and composer Antoni Besses. This transcription, which the composer heard and approved, enables us to say that for the first time the totality of the songs and dances are available, in an updated edition, to be played on the piano.

The potential of Mompou’s music, which has given rise to many transcriptions and versions even in such diverse spheres as jazz, is especially stimulating. In the case of the Songs and Dances, we believe they are opened up to other timbric resonances which will propitiate new versions that may become, if not canonical, stimulating enough to help bring Mompou’s work to the level of universality to which he aspired, and which in recent years has gradually become consolidated in auditoriums and recordings made by a variety of performers on the international circuit.

Miquel M. Badal Valls
President of the Frederic Mompou Foundation