Donostia is the Basque name for San Sebastián, and Aita (Father) Donostia was the name adopted by José Gonzalo Zulaica on ordination as a Capuchin priest. Some of his music may already be familiar through Michel Plasson’s ‘Musiques Basques’ collection (EMI – nla); but there’s much more revealing material here. As a musician and composer, Donostia’s specialities were Basque folk music and sacred music, and those two threads run through this affecting collection. An early Basque Rhapsody is atypically out-going and romantic, and more typical is the impressionist vein of Debussy and Ravel that pervades the compositions that followed his music studies in Navarra and Paris. This is evident not least in the nine tracks that are orchestrations from his four books of Basque Preludes, simultaneously issued complete for piano on Claves. It’s evident equally in three sacred stage works, inspired by Saint Cecilia, Saint Francis of Assisi and a local Basque miracle, which show the twin influences of Gregorian chant and Debussy’s Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastian.

Predominantly it’s gentle, reflective music, of emotional depth rather than emotional range, with contrasts of inner torment and serenity, and graced with subtle harmonic and instrumental touches. The CD comes as Volume 7 in Claves’s Basque Music Collection, with Romanian conductor Cristian Mandeal once more revealing his ability to light up the music he conducts. Especially for those with a penchant for sacred music, this may well be the volume with which to sample a rewarding series.