Between the Sea and the Night

Cantos do Mar e da Noite (Songs of the Sea and the Night) was the title given to a recent performance of works by Fernando Buide at the Spanish Embassy in Berlin; and while either the sea or the night did make oblique appearances in each of the three pieces – all settings of texts by Galician poets – they were, in every case, only points of departure for larger meditations on longing, sorrow and the human capacity for cruelty. Although the evening suggested the familiar structure of a Liederabend – soprano María Hinojosa was accompanied by the composer at the piano – none of the pieces were straightforward enough to be described as songs; instead they emerged as something closer to captivating micro-dramas in which the concentrated passions of the texts were refracted into a series of deeply enthralling episodes.

The opening piece was a…