Piano works by Jesús Rueda, a novelty from Naxos in September

Posted by Leticia Martin on September 13, 2009  |  1 Comment

With symphonies, string quartets, chamber concertos, operas and a great deal of piano music to his name, Jesús Rueda is one of the most representative composers of Spanish music alive today. His piano works, performed by Ananda Sukarlan on this recording, are on the virtuoso lines of composers such as Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and Prokofiev.

His piano compositions range from the dazzling firework display present in Mephisto, based on Liszt’s first waltz, to the two sonatas, the second of which is influenced by jazz and Bali Kecak dance rhythms from Indonesia, to the delightfully sensual tonal palette

of the 24 interludes, and Invenciones, a relatively simple piece with special appeal for children.

This is very personal music where classical languages and contemporary elements are brought together to create richly expressive and communicative music.

See the complete works by Jesús Rueda…

Mexico-Spain Contemporary Music Festival

Posted by Leticia Martin on February 12, 2009  |  Leave a comment

After a 25-year hiatus, Mexico and Spain once again co-organize a festival of contemporary music, this February 17 to 28, to present the leading exponents of the genre from both countries, along with poetry recitals and master classes in composition.

The new Spanish-Mexican Festival of Contemporary Music will revive artistic exchange and end a quarter of a century of isolation and lack of awareness of the work of musicians from either nation, says the director of the event, Marcela Rodriguez. “Now,” she adds, “we are going to reactivate the exchange and presentation of the latest from genre, with works of high quality in terms of composition and execution. They are fresh and define the vision and influences of each of the participants.”

She recalled that the original festival was organized by the Mexican Alicia Urrueta and the Spaniard Carlos Cruz de Castro. “It was called the Spanish-Mexican Festival and was held from 1973 to 1983. After that, contact between the composers from the two countries was broken off.”

She explained that the programme consists of concerts of chamber and electronic music. “There will be five world premieres and 17 pieces will be played for the first time in Mexico.”

In total, she said, there will be six concerts with pieces by Mexicans Lara Ana and Gabriela Ortiz, among others, and the Spaniards José Manuel López, Carlos Cruz de Castro, José Luis Castillo, Javier Arias, Jesús Rueda, Santiago Lanchares, Ramón Humet and Mercedes Zavala. She also highlighted the performances by the ensembles Onix and Catrina String Quartet, plus the piano soloists Carlos Apellániz and Alberto Rosado.

See the program

Jesús Guridi and Isaac Albéniz at the Cadiz Festival

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 17, 2008  |  Leave a comment

The 2008 Spanish Music Festival of Cadiz, organized by the Government of Andalusia, which runs 20-30 November, features a range of works from the Tritó catalogue.

On Saturday, 22 November, the Basque National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Pablo Gonzalez, winner of the 2006 Cadaqués Orchestra Conducting Competition, presents Jesús Guridi’s monumental Sinfonía Pirinenca. This work, which premiered in 1946, is one of the best examples of the Basque composer’s oeuvre, with three contrasting movements, from passages of great melodic beauty to others of stunning rhythmic richness, and including influences from folk music and French impressionism.

On 29 November, the Granada City Orchestra conducted by JF Haisser performs three of Jesús Rueda’s orchestrations of Isaac Albéniz’s Suite Iberia: Triana, Lavapiés and Evocación. The Madrid composer’s particular tribute to one of the great piano works of all times retains all the freshness and immediacy of the original rendered in orchestral form. The Granada City Orchestra performs the same programme on 30 November as part of the orchestra’s regular concert season.

Madrid Premiere of “La Tierra”, by Jesús Rueda

Posted by Leticia Martin on November 14, 2008  |  1 Comment

As part of its current season, the National Orchestra of Spain, under the baton of Pedro Halffter, presents in Madrid La Tierra (The Earth) by Jesús Rueda. The piece was commissioned by the Madrid conductor to complement Gustav Holst’s suite The Planets, and originally premiered in June 2007, performed by the Seville Symphony Orchestra.

In composing the suite, Holst drew on myriad sources, mixing symbolism, astrology and even chemistry, with more earthly matters such as the horrors of war (it was written during World War I). This is especially evident in Mars, a score that has been used often as background music, most famously perhaps in “Star Wars”.

Over time, much of the symbolism attached to The Planets has been lost, leaving its most universal and astronomical facets, from which Jesús Rueda drew inspiration for his composition.

La Tierra.mp3

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The result is a piece that both captures the music and spirit of our time, and evokes the music of Holst.

It is a thrilling, fiery piece, reflecting the orderly chaos of our planet and our lives.

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.

“El Puerto” by Albéniz orchestrated by Jesús Rueda

Posted by Cristina Martí on July 30, 2008  |  Leave a comment

This year’s Peralada Festival provides the setting for the Cadaqués Orchestra’s premiere of the fourth orchestration, done by the Madrid composer Jesús Rueda, of Albéniz’s Suite Iberia.
Suite Iberia is one of the best-known works by Isaac Albéniz. Originally written for piano, its scenes of Hispanic references have been orchestrated several times, but this is the first adaptation for classical orchestra. Rueda’s profound feeling for the music of Albéniz has produced orchestrations of Triana, Evocación, Lavapiés and now El Puerto that demonstrate tonal and musical richness.
In addition to El Puerto, the Peralada Festival concert, this 5 August, also features Evocación, under the direction of maestro Neville Marriner, principal guest conductor of the Cadaqués Orchestra.

New release by Jesús Rueda: Second Quartet

Posted by Marcel Soleda on June 26, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Tritó announces the addition to its catalogue of a new work by the Madrid composer Jesús Rueda, winner of the 2004 National Music Prize and one of the most singular figures in Spanish contemporary music: Quartet No. 2 “Desde las sombras” (TR168). Dedicated to the Casals Quartet, who premiered the work in Valladolid on 15 April, 2003, it is conceived of as a continuation of Haydn’s “Seven Last Words”.

The three acts of the quartet evoke Christ’s life in the next world, which appears in apocryphal writings, based on texts from The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Odyssey and The Aeneid, although in this case the key character in the work is secondary and only gains significance once known, as additional information. In the words of Domingo del Campo it is a work that “accentuates the introspective nature, and its language, stripped of experimental resources, is austere and essentialized.”

The recording is by the prestigious Arditti Quartet, on Sello Autor, and on sale at www.trito.es

Premiere of Quaderno d’Estate by Jesús Rueda in Ferrara

Posted by Marcel Soleda on May 15, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Quaderno d’estate, a work for guitar by Jesús Rueda, commissioned by the Jacinto and Inocencio Guerrero Foundation for the 17th International Guitar Competition in 2007, will be premiered by Stefano Cardi this 25 May in the Italian city of Ferrara at the Festival miXXer – le mille musiche del secolo XX, organized by the city’s G. Frescobaldi Conservatory and the Teatro Comunale.

The work, which has received high praise from the critics, is rich in nuances, with constant changes in tempo and rhythm, and demonstrates the Madrid composer’s command of the instrument. The guitarist Stefano Cardi knows the work well after overseeing and adapting the writing for guitar.

www.conservatorioferrara.it

New works by Albert Guinovart, Jesús Rueda and Hèctor Parra

Posted by Redacción on July 4, 2007  |  Leave a comment

Tritó announces the release of Symphony I by Jesús Rueda, composed in 2000, and since its premiere lauded by critics as one of the most important orchestral works of our day. The recording by the Spanish National Youth Orchestra conducted by Ernest Martínez-Izquierdo – also including symphonies by Jesús Torres and David del Puerto – has also received widespread praise in the specialist press. The piece, which is scored for large orchestra with triple woodwinds, six horns, piano and three percussionists, is subtitled Laberinto in reference to the labyrinth from classic mythology and a programme which takes the listener on a journey in four stages each joined and resolved by the Sphinx, with the Minotaur as the apotheosis of the work at the end of the journey. Tritó Edicions has also released three new works by Hèctor Parra: Time Fields II, Time Fields III – composed for unaccompanied instruments – and Andante sospeso, a duet for flute (or clarinet) and piano. The latter title refers to the counterpoint between the concept of mobile and static sound, with the flute and piano alternating in the creation of atmospheres which are at once complementary and opposing. Time Fields II, on the other hand, is written for solo clarinet and exploits all the potential of the instrument (multiphonics, microtones, changes in timbre), while Time Fields III, originally conceived for baritone saxophone and later adapted for bass clarinet, now appears in version for solo flute. The work is constructed out of three separate instrumental materials – melodic lines, extended notes and complex rhythms – which are combined with the many shifts in speed which mark the work. Tritó’s saxophone repertoire, meanwhile, grows with the piece Haendeliana, which Albert Guinovart originally composed for performance with voice, recalling the opera arias of the Baroque composer Georg F. Haendel. The success of the piece inspired the composer to make several versions and transcriptions, and this one is adapted for soprano saxophone, clarinet or oboe, accompanied by the piano.

New release,”Tres Sinfonías”, by Jesús Torres, David del Puerto and Jesús Rueda

Posted by Cristina Martí on May 30, 2007  |  Leave a comment

Three important composers of our time,have come together in this CD, Jesús Torres; Symphony No. 1 ‘Boreas’ by David del Puerto and Symphony I ‘Laberinto’ by Jesús Rueda. The three figures, of well-defined, well-distinguished musical personalities, demonstrate the creative richness of a generation of Spanish composers born in the 1960s. CD “TRES SINFONIAS”