The Santa Barbara Music Club will present its next free concert at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Faulkner Gallery of the Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 E. Anapamu St.

On the Santa Barbara Music Club program we will hear pianist Neil Di Maggio play the Sonata in D-Major, K. 119 of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and the Canción y Danza No. 5 of  Frederic Mompou i Dencausse (1893-1987); flautist Ben Leinfelder and oboist Adelle Rodkey perform the Sonata No. 1 in E-Minor, Opus 1 by Michel Blavet (1700-68); and pianist Pascal Salomon playing the Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830 of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

Mompou was a Spanish composer and pianist who identified himself as a “Catalan.” His music might be described as Spanish nationalism with a French accent.

When he was 9, he heard Gabriel Fauré perform in Barcelona, and the experience set him on the musical course he pursued for the rest of his life. When he went to Paris to continue his education, at the Conservatory, he bore a letter from his friend and mentor, Enrique Granados, to Fauré, but Mompou was so shy that he never dared to present the letter to its addressee.

Like Granados, Mompou is best known for his solo piano music and his songs. Many of his solo piano pieces are exquisite miniatures like the Canción y Danza No. 5, in which we may detect the influence of, besides Fauré and Granados, Erik Satie. You’ll want to hear more when you’ve heard the one.

Blavet was the greatest French flautist in the first half of the 18th century. His music reminds me of Pergolesi, his contemporary, though Blavet lived nearly three times as long. He was very successful and held several important posts in the French musical establishment of his time. Frederick the Great of Prussia tried to lure him away, but didn’t offer him enough money — Berlin being not only far away, but something of a backwater.

— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.