The Catalan composer Federico Mompou was a master whose independent nature led him to eschew conventional methods of musical study. He tended to favor the French school, in particular the music of Satie, though his style divulges elements of Debussy and Ravel. Oddly, he is best-known for his arrangements of popular songs, but his original compositions are obviously worthwhile, as evidenced by these six short pieces, which all exhibit the above-mentioned French influences.

What is unusual about Mompou here is his penchant for slow tempos: only the fifth, "Pour évoquer l'image du passé," has anything approaching a lively tempo. The set's first work, "Pour endormir la souffrance," features simple harmonies and a playful, long-breathed Debussyian theme that is heard four times, after which the piece quietly ends. The ensuing "Pour pénétrer les âmes" is glacial in its slow-moving manner. It is more about atmosphere than melody, textures than structure. The music sounds from a haze, gloomy and floating, amid dark gray clouds.

The third, "Pour inspirer l'amour," sounds relatively lively by contrast; its middle section, in fact, exhibiting much cheer and a measure of animation in its bell-ringing sonorities. The outer sections are sedate and lovely in their Satie-tinged barrenness. "Pour les guérisons" presents a theme whose similarity to Chopin's famous Funeral March is obvious. It is as if Satie took the theme, bleached it of its ominous drama, slowed its fateful tread, and distorted its balanced contour, the whole sounding ethereal, dark, and weird. The aforementioned "Pour évoquer l'image du passé" is bright and playful, with notes swirling around an attractive though emotionally neutral theme. The central episode features dramatic, Debussyian chords, which quickly yield back to a gentle reprise of the main theme. The last piece, "Pour appeler la joie," begins with a lively bright theme, but then slows its pace, never regaining its lost momentum. All these works are fairly direct, featuring piano writing whose textures are light and whose challenges to the performer are modest. Each piece lasts between one and three minutes, the whole collection having a duration of ten to twelve minutes.

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