El Gato con Botas (Puss in Boots), reduction for piano

Posted by Leticia Martin on April 24, 2009  |  Leave a comment

El gato con Botas, an opera by Xavier Montsalvatge with a libretto by Nestor Luján based on the story by C. Perrault, has been newly published as a reduced version for piano and voice.

This opera, composed by the Catalan composer in 1948, is one of the liveliest examples of contemporary Spanish opera and has been staged on several occasions – the latest was a co-production by the Teatro Real and the Liceu – both in its original version and as the adaptation made in 1996 by Albert Guinovart for chamber ensemble.

Gianandrea Noseda conducts Albéniz and Granados

Posted by Leticia Martin on April 24, 2009  |  Leave a comment

The recent tour of the Orquesta de Cadaqués, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, with concerts in Girona (28 April) and Zaragoza (29 Abril) focussed on Spanish music. The repertoire consisted of pieces by Isaac Albéniz, to mark the centenary of his death, and Enrique Granados, and their works were interpreted using the orchestrations that Albert Guinovart was commissioned to write by Tritó Edicions.

The Orquesta de Cadaqués presented four pieces from the Suite Española (Cadiz, Asturias, Cordoba and Sevilla) by Albéniz as well as his Canciones Italianas, interpreted by Ainhoa Arteta. Las Tonadillas by Enrique Granados completed a first part in which the Orquesta de Cadaqués, Gianandrea Noseda and Ainhoa Arteta paid their own special homage to Spanish music.

The concert programme was completed by F. Schubert’s Symphony nº 4.

Children’s classics in the Solfa la Redonda collection

Posted by Marcel Soleda on April 21, 2009  |  Leave a comment

Two new titles have been added to the Solfa la Redonda collection of CDs for children, which maintains its policy of motivating and encouraging children to get to know classical music, this time counting on the voices of Gonzalo de Castro and Javier Cámara.

These two novelties by Spanish composers, El soldadito de Plomo (The Tin Soldier) by Emilio Aragón and las Fábulas de Lafontaine (La Fontaine’s Fables) by Xavier Benguerel, join the ranks of such notable titles and famous classics in the children’s repertoire as Peter and the Wolf by Prokoviev and the Story of Babar by Francisc Poulenc, already on sale.

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The Orquesta de Cadaqués Ensemble plays all the musical parts, conducted this time by Emilio Aragón and Philippe Entremont respectively. The narrative counts on the invaluable cooperation of some of the most versatile actors on the national scene, who took part in this project thrilled by the possibility of addressing such a demanding audience as children: Javier Cámara and Gonzalo de Castro join Tristán Ulloa and Leonor Watling, who have already participated in previous recordings.

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David del Puerto presents his third symphony in Cordoba

Posted by Leticia Martin on April 15, 2009  |  Leave a comment

On Thurday 16 April, at the Gran Teatro at 21:00 hrs, and as part of the busy programme of the Festival Cosmopoética held in Córdoba during March and April, David del Puerto’s third symphony, “En la melancolía de tu recuerdo, Soria”, was presented. It is a work commissioned by the Otoño Musical Soriano and composed in 2007.

Antonio Machado’s poems are the focal point of the work, with José Sacristán as the recitalist and the singers Elena Gragera and Carmen Gurriarán. The orquesta de Córdoba and the conductor Marco de Prósperis, together with these soloists, were given the task of presenting this large-scale work at the poetry festival. This is piece that signifies a point of inflection in the music of the composer David del Puerto.

See www.cosmopoetica.es for further.

“La guitarra soñada” by Javier Riba presented in Madrid and Barcelona

Posted by Leticia Martin on April 15, 2009  |  Leave a comment

In the year of Albéniz’s centenary (1860-1909), Javier Riba, following the best Spanish guitar tradition (Miquel Llobet, Francesc Tárrega), has realised some brilliant versions of different works by the maestro from Camprodon, which are now being presented in concert in Madrid and Barcelona.

The opportunity to listen to Javier Riba live in Madrid is on 22 April, as part of the concert programme organised by the Sociedad Española de la Guitarra, at the Centro Cultural Conde Duque del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, and he can be heard in Barcelona on 23 May, as part of the Festival de Guitarra de Barcelona , in the Iglesia de San Felipe Neri.

The CD “La guitarra soñada” by Javier Riba is a Tritó production.