Baroque bad boy Francesc Valls shook the music world by not conforming to standard practice and using highly unconventional harmonies and gratuitous dissonance. Ensemble BachWerkVokal led by Gordon Safari take this controversial Catalan composer from the time of Bach out of the archives and present his extraordinary works for the first time in this world-premiere recording.

The cultivated and virtuosic composer is rooted in the Spanish tradition, yet is also well acquainted with the Italian, French and South German-Austrian style of his time. Mapa armónico práctico is Valls' compositional treatise showcasing the master's multi-layered musical language. Although condensed, his works open up an immense cosmos of musical expression and offer a constant stream of new musical surprises.

There are magnificent and expansive echo effects, chromatic shifts which represent bitterness, seemingly endless chains of suspensions where love languishes in longing, and head-turning harmonic progressions that defy expectations.

These works provide a rare opportunity to gain far-reaching insight into Valls' compositional of maxim and to immerse oneself deeply into the mentality and life of the Baroque world. The three-dimensional sound of this high-resolution Super Audio CD brings out the spatial effects of these magnificent compositions exceedingly well - an exciting Baroque feast for the ears.