The Orquestra de Cadaqués celebrates its twentieth anniversary

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 31, 2008  |  Leave a comment

On the occasion of the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, a selection of CDs with performances by the orchestra are on sale during 2008 in www.trito.es at a price of 8 euros (one CD) and 14 euros (double CD).

Guinovart – Morera – Txaikovski

The first CD in the Cadaqués Live Recording collection is a combination of music as eclectic as it is surprising. La vida secreta, by Albert Guinovart; las Cançons de carrer, by Enric Morera; and the Suite no. 4 in G major, “Mozartiana”, op.61, by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Vasily Petrenko conducts the Orquestra de Cadaqués and the soprano Rosa Mateu.

Mozart – Haydn – Beethoven

The three masters of European Classicism coincide on this CD with works that are very representative of their repertory. The Overture of Le Nozze de Figaro, by W.A.Mozart; the Symphony nº 104 “London”, by F.J.Haydn; and the Symphony nº 4, by L.V.Beethoven. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the ODC.

Gounod – Fauré

Two of the main representatives of French Romanticism come together in a CD that contains three of their most notable works. Pavane, op.50 and Cantique de Jean Racine, by Gabriel Fauré, and the Symphony nº 2 in E flat major, by Charles Gounod. Sir Neville Marriner conducts the ODC with the collaboration of the Amici Musicae choir and the choir of the Auditorio de Zaragoza.

Mozart: The woodwind concertos

On this double CD the Orquestra de Cadaqués plays four concertos for woodwind by W.A.Mozart with the participation of some outstanding soloists: Christopher Cowie, Joan Enric Lluna, Jaime Martín and David Tomàs. Once again, Sir Neville Marriner leads the orchestra in the performance of the concertos for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.

Mozart: Sinfonie concertanti

Yet again a monographic CD dedicated to the genius of European Classicism. This time it is the Sinfonie concertanti k.364 and 297b, with the first arranged as a double concerto y and the second as a concerto with a quartet of soloists. The Orquestra de Cadaqués, under the baton of its guest conductor, Sir Neville Marriner, manages to transmit perfectly the moments of resounding brilliance in the rapid movements, and also the high levels of restrained drama evoked by the andante in the first sinfonia. A real pleasure.

Mozart: The flute concertos

The same great sense of drama and stage presence that Mozart developed in the field of music for theatre is the driving force and the spirit which, in the purely instrumental field, characterises his repertory of concerto works.
 
And this is because, the same as in his opera arias, the possibilities of a musical approach as simple as the dialectics established between the individual and the group were fertile ground when it came to developing certain characteristics inherent to the creative side of the composer’s character. Sir Neville Marriner’s experienced baton and the virtuoso flute of Jaime Martín together, leading the Orquestra de Cadaqués.

Beethoven: Symphonies 1 and 2

In 1911 the manuscript of a symphony in C major was found in the city of Jena and attributed to Beethoven. For half a century it was considered to be his first attempt in this field. When the falseness of this claim was verified, the Symphony op.21 was definitively confirmed as his first contribution to a genre in which he established basic concepts of unavoidable reference for all those who would subsequently tackle this musical form.
 
At this stage in time there is little we don’t know about Beethoven’s symphonic work. The two symphonies are masterfully performed by the ODC, and with Sir Neville Marriner conducting.
 
For further information and mp3 samples click on the links for each CD.

Reglas de canto plano, de Fernando Esteban

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 30, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Internet has facilitated access to the digitalised collections of many archives and libraries around the world. However, there are still many titles, not only in Spain, that are unavailable through the web but which can be obtained in book format.

This is the case of Reglas de canto plano è de contrapunto è de canto de Organo (Rules for plainchant and counterpoint and polyphony) by Fernando Esteban, which, with a first edition dating from 1375, constitutes one of the essential sources of theory for specialists in the reconstruction of theory and thinking behind Spanish music.

Although this facsimile edition with its accompanying typed transcription was published over 30 years ago, today it has special value because it provides specialists with difficultly accessible material of great interest.

The volume begins with a synthetical introductory study by the musicologist Mª Pilar Escudero Garcia. The organisation of the contents (facsimile on even-numbered pages and transcription on the odd numbers) makes reading them easier and allows the reader to contrast the original source with its interpretation.

Joan Guinjoan protagonist of the 3rd Contemporary Music

Posted by Cristina Martí on October 28, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Joan Guinjoan, one of the leading figures in Spanish contemporary music in the past fifty years, in his dual role as conductor-pianist and composer, is in the spotlight at this year’s Contemporary Music Festival of Barcelona.

A concert cycle of his works opened this past Oct. 15 with a performance by Barcelona 216. Guinjoan was surrounded by the organizers of the cycle, the Caixa Catalunya Foundation and Musicadhoy, and by composers and performers who praised his figure.

Throughout the cycle, his works will be interpreted by some of the top musicians in contemporary music, including Horacio Lavandera, who performed “Verbum” on October 27 and the Cuarteto Diotima, String Quartet on Nov. 5. All concerts are at the Caixa Catalunya Auditorium in Barcelona.

Fully published the work of Manuel Castillo

Posted by Leticia Martin on October 28, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Thanks to an agreement with the Music Documentation Centre of the Government of Andalusia, Tritó is publishing the complete works of Manuel Castillo (1927-2005). The latest release, Piano Concerto No. 2, was composed in 1966 and premiered in the Auditorium of the Ministry of Information and Tourism and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in January 1967 with the composer at the piano with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra.
This concerto is the least known of the three that the Sevillian composer wrote for the piano, and in the words of Thomas Marco “lies between the youthful first and masterful third.”

Published Fantasia for Tuba and Piano

Posted by Leticia Martin on October 28, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Fantasia for Tuba and piano” by Bartolomé Pérez Casas, probably one of the earliest works ever written for these two instruments, is now available from the Tritó catalogue. The project to publish this landmark work for the tuba entailed a major research effort by both the publisher and reviser Miguel Moreno Guna, from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, to find the composer’s original manuscript as well as the historical documentation essential for the best possible recreation of the score.

Bartolomé Pérez Casas was a leading figure in Spanish music in the first half of the twentieth century, as director of the Royal Lancers Corps Band, professor of harmony at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, founder and director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Madrid and director of the Spanish National Orchestra between 1942 and 1947. His knowledge of wind instruments and his music teaching skills make this an essential piece in the tuba repertoire.

New Epigrams in ISCM World Music Days 2008

Posted by Leticia Martin on October 28, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Benet Casablancas‘ “New Epigrams” for chamber orchestra has been included in the programme for “ISCM World Music Days 2008″, being held this year in Vilnius (Lithuania). The piece, Spain’s sole representative at this year’s Festival, is being performed on October 27 by the Cantus Ensemble of Croatia at the Town Hall in the Lithuanian capital. The international jury, charged with making their selection from among over 350 scores submitted by the ISCM’s national sections, includes figures of the stature of Peter Eötvös, Jonathan Harvey, Luca Francesconi, Onute Narbutaire and Helena Tulve. New Epigrams has been performed previously in London (London Sinfonietta Perspective CD), Strasbourg (Festival Musica), Amsterdam (Holland Festival), Düsseldorf (Biennale “Ohren Musik aus Europa”), St. Petersburg (Hermitage State Orchestra), La Tour-de- Trême (Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne), Oberlin (Ohio, USA), Vienna (Portrait Benet Casablancas, Musikverein) as well as in several Spanish cities (Barcelona, Madrid, Alicante, Sabadell and Valencia).
Alter Klang “Impromptu per a orquestra”, was commissioned by the Spanish National Orchestra in 2007, and is published by Tritó Edicions. In 2009 the piece will be performed in Holland, Belgium and Sweden.

“Glossa” by Jesús Torres in the Carlos Prieto’s competition

Posted by Leticia Martin on October 28, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Glossa” (2004) by Jesús Torres has been selected as the obligatory piece for the 2009 Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition in Mexico. In addition to drawing on the established cello repertoire, each year the competition selects works by contemporary Latin American composers plus one piece by a Spaniard.
The Spanish cellist Asier Polo, a member of the jury, and who has performed Jesús Torres’ work on several occasions, strongly advocated the inclusion of Glosa. Other composers featured in the competition, to be held in August 2009 in the Mexican town of Morelia, are Marlos Nobre (Brazil), Benzecry (Argentina), Ziman (Mexico).

Jesús Rueda’s La Tierra debuts in Madrid

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 8, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“La Tierra” (TR634), written in 2006 by the Madrid composer Jesús Rueda on commission from the Seville Symphony Orchestra, the Autor Foundation and the Spanish Association of Symphony Orchestras (AEOS), is to be presented this season in Madrid in reduced version for instrumental group. The 3rd movement of Sinfonía 3 becomes an independent work with the intention of completing the cycle The Planets by Holst.

The Plural Ensemble – which commissioned the reduced version – conducted by Fabián Panisello, performs at the Chamber Hall of the Madrid National Auditorium this 6 October. The programme also includes Mahler’s Song of the Earth in its reduced version by Arnold Schoenberg.

Ramón Humet’s Escenas de viento debuts in Montreal

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 7, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Escenas de viento” (TR634) for orchestra premieres today 30 September in Quebec (Canada) in a concert by the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Jacques Lacombe.

This work is the fruit of a commission by the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra awarded to Ramón Humet as the winner of last year’s Messiaen Composition Prize, organized by the orchestra and its principal director Kent Nagano, for his work Escenas de pájaros.

The music of Ramón Humet, with a highly personal language combining a characteristic melodic sensibility, rhythmic forms, strong contrasts and references to the natural world.

Gabriel Erkoreka’s “Fuegos”, finalist for the Queen Sofía competition

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 6, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Fuegos” by the composer Gabriel Erkoreka premieres this 10 October at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid with the RTVE Orchestra, conducted by director Adrian Leaper, in the extraordinary final concert of the Queen Sofía Composition Prize organized by the Ferrer Salat Foundation.

The programme also includes this year’s other finalist work, Concertino for Viola and Orchestra by the Japanese composer Takahiro Sakuma.

Gabriel Erkoreka was born in Bilbao in 1968 and has lived in London for more than ten years. Among other composition honours, he has won First Prize from the Spanish Society of Authors and Writers (SGAE); the Basque Government Prize; the Josiah Parker Prize; the Rome Prize, as well as prizes from the Spanish National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM) and the Spanish College of Paris. He is an honorary associate member of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) and composition tutor at MUSIKENE-Higher Conservatory of Music of the Basque Country.

This is his first work published by Tritó.