New symphony by Josep Pons

Posted by Redacción on November 11, 2008  |  Leave a comment

A previously unpublished symphony by Josep Pons (1770-1818) has been included in volume 6 of the Collection “Compositors valencians”, published by Tritó in conjunction with the Generalitat Valenciana. It has been classified as No. 10 so as to respect the numbering of the catalogue initiated years ago by Joám Trillo and José López-Calo.

The task of the publication of this symphony in A major fell to Josep Dolcet, who located the manuscript in the Biblioteca Històrica of Madrid City Council, among the archives that came from the old Teatro de la Cruz.

It was found together with other overtures and symphonies by Pons and by Sor (published and recorded), Pablo del Moral and Francisco Javier Moreno, and also works by Haydn, Pleyel and Mozart, and lesser-known European composers (Rosetti, Winter, Witt, Méhul, Paër, Paisiello, Salieri, Sarti, Spontini, Mercadante, etc.)

In fact, this is the first time symphonies and overtures by Pons have been found in archives coming from theatres, and this shows that apart from the use of his music in religious acts, which implies its conservation in cathedral archives, it also sounded in concert halls or as the introduction to theatre works performed at the beginning of the 19th century.

The edition also includes an updated biographical study of Josep Pons, carried out by the musicologist and conductor Ramón Ramírez i Beneyto, author of a doctoral thesis on this composer.

Symphony no.10, Allegro

Tritó and web 2.0

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 10, 2008  |  1 Comment

Chamber music from the 18th century

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 7, 2008  |  2 Comments

Volume 7 of the Collection “Compositors valencians” has been released. It is published by Tritó in conjunction with the Generalitat Valenciana and contains the Complete repertoire of chamber music composed by the brothers Antonio and Joaquín Nicolás Ximénez Brufal, in an edition prepared by the Valencian musicologist Miguel Ángel Picó Pascual.

This researcher has reconstructed the lives and historical and family background of these two composers and violinists who practised their profession at the collegiate church of Alicante and in the courts and concert halls of Madrid, London and Paris, like the other musicians in their family.

The edition contains twelve works, with score and parts. The six sonatas for violin and basso continuo by Nicolás Ximénez, composed totally in the Galante and Rococo style typical of the post-Baroque period, were first published in London in 1772. On the other hand, the sonatas and trios by his brother, published in Paris in 1789, are totally in the international style of Classicism.

It should be mentioned that the trios in Opus 1 by Antonio Ximénez are for guitar, violin and bass (cello). One would expect these pieces to be well received by guitarists, on the look out for the scarce repertoire of chamber music for guitar.

Sonata I in G

Fernando Sor, beyond the guitar

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 6, 2008  |  1 Comment

A new recording by the Orquestra de Cadaqués (Ibèria Filharmonia) conducted by Sir Neville Mariner. The CD presents seven of Ferran Sor’s orchestral works, most of them unknown to today’s public. Among the seven works there are three overtures for ballets, a genre that Sor cultivated assiduously from 1821 to 1826 (probably as a consequence of his relationship with the ballerina Felicité Hullin) and which gained him international renown.

They are from Alphonse et Léonore ou L’amant peintre written in 1823, Hercule et Omphale, written in 1826, and Cendrillon, the ballet that accompanied the inauguration of the Teatre Bòlxoi in 1825. An earlier work is also included, the overture for the melodrama La Elvira portuguesa, dating from 1804, and also the three symphonies located so far, probably composed around the same time, before Sor had to abandon Spain fleeing the repression of pro-French sympathisers. These symphonies, despite their denomination, are formally overtures with one or two movements, a very typical occurrence in Spanish music from the 18th century and the beginnings of the 19th  century.

1. Obertura d’Hercule et Omphalle

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2. Simfonia núm.1 – Largo

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6. Obertura de Elvira la portuguesa

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This recording is not only of great musical interest but also has significant documental value. It revives a forgotten theatre music repertory, of ballet and melodrama from the first half of the 19th century, which at the same time illustrates what symphonic music was like when the Romantic movement was just beginning, and all in all through the orchestral production of a composer who up till now had only been taken into account as a composer of guitar music. By way of a curiosity, it should be mentioned that around 1828 Sor sent Ferdinand VII the overture from Hercule et Omphale, with a letter where he tried, in vain, to obtain the king’s pardon and regain the royal favour, having being disgraced because of his stance during the Napoleonic occupation.

Further information…

Javier Riba plays El puerto, by Albéniz

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 4, 2008  |  1 Comment

The guitarist Javier Riba plays El puerto from the Suite Iberia (original for piano)  by Isaac Albéniz in his own guitar arrangement. More of these transcriptions can be listened in his recent recording, “La guitarra soñada”. These transcriptions are being prepared today and will be available the next December.

Isaac Albéniz: La guitarra soñada

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 4, 2008  |  4 Comments

The commemoration in 2009 of the centenary of the death of Isaac Albéniz will be a great opportunity to review the work of one of greatest Spanish music geniuses of all time.

In this respect, for the first time we are able to listen to the transcription for solo guitar of some parts of Iberia, one of the most important piano masterpieces of European music.

The Cordovan guitarist Javier Riba offers us the world debut of the arrangements of Evocación, El puerto and Almería, altogether in the tradition initiated by the maestros Francesc Tàrrega and Miquel Llobet.

In addition to Ibèria, the recording includes Capricho catalán, Preludio and Tango (España), the parts Cuba and Granada from the Suite española, all of them arranged by Riba himself, and the already classic transcriptions by Tàrrega and Llobet of the Pavana and the Serenata española.

It is worth mentioning the sleeve notes, written by the prestigious musicologist specialised in Albéniz, Walter Clark, where he draws attention to the fact that Albéniz’s piano works have become one of the central parts of the guitar repertory par excellence.

1. Evocación

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2. El puerto

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3. Granada

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