Carlos Cano

 I couldn't sleep, and was writing in my head. I remembered suddenly Carlos Cano's Diván del Tamarit, which I have to at least mention.  

Gacela del amor imprevisto.  Starts off with a horn section, a female voice sings "nadie," a male voice comes in. Then the male voice, Cano, sings with a guitar. Semi-flamenco style. Drum beat enters, then violins and woodwinds. Very pretentious-sounding. I'm not getting an emotional feel from the song that corresponds to my idea of of the poem. The mood changes half-way through; it's a bit lachrymose. The arrangement is too much. That string section. 

Gacela de la terrible presencia. Starts off with pulsing intro, drum beat and electric guitar. The tempo is too fast for the poem, the dramatic emphases are off. The soprano is doing vocalese in the background. He uses strings in a similar way. 

Gacela del amor desesperado.  Starts with flamenco-style singing. Then the orchestra comes in. The arrangement is almost unbearably pretentious. Castanets. The pseudo-flamenco is reminiscent of españoladas. 

Gacela del amor que no se deja ver. Starts with bells, and then the line about bells in the poem. A woman whispering. He is not a bad singer, but the melodies are not convincing to me. 

Gacela del niño muerto. A middle-eastern feel to the scale being played. A flute. The tempo is too up-beat for the text of the poem. You are doing it wrong!! 

Gacela de la raíz amarga. Just the guitar and voice at the beginning. Then the woodwinds. Flamenco cadence. 

That's about as much as I can stand. This is unspeakably bad. But that's just my opinion.