“El libro de los secretos” (The Book of Secrets): the world premiere and it’s for everyone

Posted by Soledad Sánchez on November 18, 2011  |  Leave a comment

Premieres are not always allowed the diffusion or contact with the public they deserve. On the other hand, ICTs now make things much easier for us by breaking down the barriers of distance and announcing those novelties we wouldn’t want to miss out on in our homes.

El libro de los secretos is the result of reasoned hard work by the Zaragozan composer Jesús Torres. It was commissioned by the OBC (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya ), the same orchestra that will  premiere the work today on 18 November, led by its current conductor Pablo González. The venue is the Sala Paul Casals in the Auditori de Barcelona at 09:00 pm.

For those who are unable to attend the premiere there will be two more opportunities in the same auditorium and with the same performers, on Saturday 20 November at 7:00 pm and Sunday 21 at 11:00 am.

But if you cannot attend any of the three sessions, no problem! Three important broadcast stations will air these concerts.

Fruit of a new agreement between OBC and Medici TV we will have the opportunity to watch the Saturday concert on-line and live. Medici TV is an essential medium for the diffusion of orchestral activities worldwide and a guarantee of quality for listeners.

Connection to the platform is easy and free for three days and allows online access to countless concerts stored for viewing and listening on demand. But there is one point that deserves special mention: this is the first time Medici TV will broadcast a concert from the Auditori in Barcelona with the OBC and Pablo González.

Likewise, the Sunday concert will be broadcast live by Catalunya clàssica radio on its MP classics programme. And there’s still more! RTVE will rebroadcast this concert at 08:00 pm on Sunday 23.

And so we think that with so many opportunities to listen to the concert synchronously or asynchronously (as the new communicators like to put it), there is no valid excuse for missing the music in El libro de los secretos.

“Apocalipsis” at the SMR in Cuenca

Posted by Leticia Martin on April 19, 2011  |  Leave a comment

The second day of the Cuenca Religious Music Week, 17 April, saw the premiere of the latest work by Jesús Torres. Apocalipsis, specially commissioned for the Festival, is an ambitious project that counted on the participation of the Ensemble Residencias, the French choir Accentus and the Gregorian choir Schola Antiqua, all of them conducted by Nacho de Paz.

The old church known as the Iglesia de la Merced, a beautiful religious space converted into a library, was the venue of the premiere. As its title indicates, Apocalipsis is based on bible texts from the Book of Revelation written by St John of Patmos. The composer has divided the work into seven parts, each seven minutes long, combining Latin and Spanish in the choral lyrics. And two mixed choirs, a Gregorian choir and the ensemble – consisting of seven percussionists, two pianos, two trumpets, two horns, four trombones and an oboe – constitute a group of 49 musicians (7×7), distributed in seven spaces, thus giving special importance to both the numerical symbolism and the spatial organisation, specially thought out for the venue of the premiere.

The public, with the venue packed out, was situated at the centre of this whole spatial arrangement and experienced the “revelation” first hand. Several minutes of applause capped this unforgettable event during which Torres’ music carried us from the seven seals to New Jerusalem. The music evolves to express the text and also develops its own descriptive identity, making the most of the special characteristics of the instruments and the fabulous performers on hand for the occasion.

Following on from works like Evocación and Sinfonía, Jesus Torres has achieved the perfect fusion of music and lyrics in this piece, without detriment to the particular qualities of these two components. With each new project it becomes clearer and clearer that he is one of the most important composers of contemporary music in Spain.

“Apocalipsis” in the Cuenca Religious Music Week

Posted by Cristina Martí on March 2, 2011  |  Leave a comment

On 17 April, Palm Sunday, the first public performance of the work Apocalipsis by Jesús Torres, commissioned for the 50^th Cuenca Religious Music Week, will take place at the Iglesia de la Merced in the said city. It will be the fourth of the twenty-two concerts programmed from the 16 to 24 of the coming month of April for a musical event now dating back half a century.

The composition is based on texts from the Apocalypse of St John in the New Testament and is intended to be performed by a Gregorian choir with seven members, two mixed choirs with twelve members each, seven percussionists, two pianos, two brass groups (two trumpets, two horns, two tenor trombones, two bass trombones) and one oboe. To this end it will count on to the most important Gregorian choir in Spain, Schola Antiqua, the French choir Accentus, and the Ensemble Residencias, all of them conducted by Nacho de Paz.

The work

While looking forward to the concert in order to discover this new composition by Jesus Torres, we can for the moment disclose that it lasts 49 minutes and consists of seven movements:

I. Vision; II. The seven seals; III. The seven trumpets; IV. The beast; V. Fall of Babylon; VI. The last judgement; VII. The new Jerusalem

The work of Jesús Torres has been published entirely by Editorial Tritó since 2002 and we expect it to be available in our shop in brief.

Now you know: if you live in Cuenca or are lucky enough to spend your Easter holidays there, don’t miss this concert or any of the others scheduled for the 50^th Cuenca Religious Music Week.

Upcoming concerts

Posted by Cristina Martí on February 21, 2011  |  1 Comment

Maybe you are still not aware that Tritó has a concert schedule, which provides details of all our composers’ musical activity, both around Spain and abroad.

To begin with, last week, on the 23 and 25 February, the Oviedo Filarmonía, under the baton of Lorenzo Ramos, performed the Tonadillas by Enric Granados with orchestration by Albert Guinovart, at the Auditorio Príncipe Felipe in Oviedo and the Madrid auditorium.

And on 26 February in Biscaya, the Orquestra Simfònica de Bilbao and the Orfeón Donostiarra continued the commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of the death Jesús Guridi, performing his “Cuadros Vascos” at the Teatro Social Antzokia in Basauri

We can recommend seven concerts in March: if you were at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on the 2^nd of the month you may have listened to the Ensemble Intercontemporain playing “Stress Tensor” by Hèctor Parra. On the 11^th, Sortilegis, by Xavier Montsalvatge, will be performed at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid by the Orquestra de RTVE, and on the following day, at the same venue and with soloists from the same orchestra, you can listen to the Quartet with oboe by Jesús Torres

Continuing in the month of March, other concerts are La rosa del azafrán, by Jacinto Guerrero in Albacete on the 18^th, Orchestral highlights from the opera Pepita Jiménez by Isaac Albéniz (edited by José de Eusebio) in Reutlingen (Germany), and the Obertura del ballet Alphonse et Léonore ou L’amant peintre by Ferran Sor in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, both on the 24^th. And lastly, on 29 March the students from the Salamanca Music Conservatory will play the Concert for bassoon and chamber ensemble by Agustí Charles

There’s sure to be something that interests you among all these works. As you know, if you want to go to a concert, consult the schedule for the next few months. Enjoy yourselves!

New CD with symphonic works by Jesus Torres

Posted by Leticia Martin on March 18, 2009  |  Leave a comment

This is the first monographic CD of orchestral works by the composer Jesús Torres (Zaragoza, 1965), one of the leading composers of his generation, who in the words of Jose Luis Téllez “attracts attention for both the maturity and the perfection of his writing and the speed and self-assurance with which the musician from Aragon has managed to define a personal style almost right from the beginning”.

The first work, “Sinfonía”, which was commissioned by the Orquesta de RTVE and its conductor Adrian Leaper to mark the 40th anniversary of the ensemble, is one of the composer’s most ambitious pieces to date. The writing of a symphonic work is a great challenge which the composer dealt with very successfully.

The other two works, on a smaller scale, were also the result of commissions. “Movimiento” was commissioned as the final piece in the 2004 Cadaquès Orchestra Conducting Competition. The recording was conducted by the Italian Gianandrea Noseda.

“Partita” was commissioned by the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España (JONDE) in 1998, when Jesus Torres was the in-house composer with this ensemble. Although it was written for only fifteen instruments it is a synthesis of orchestral composition.

Poética, by Jesus Torres, winner of the “Millenium Chamber Players” prize

Posted by Leticia Martin on February 5, 2009  |  1 Comment

Poética (2007), a work for a trio with piano and clarinet, by Jesús Torres, has won the “Millenium Chamber Players” prize awarded every year by the musicians of the Chicago ensemble.

This year there were over 300 competition entries and the jury, formed by Augusta Read Thomas, Kyung Mee Choi, Bernard Rands and George Flynn, admitted it had had difficulty in choosing a winner when it announced its decision.

As a prize Jesús Torres will receive a commission for a chamber work to be performed by the musicians of the “Millenium Chamber Players”. David Adamcyk and Miguel Villanueva received special mentions from the jury and Clifton Callender, Amos Elkana, Massimo Lauricella, Ned McGowan and Todd Tarantino received honourable mentions.

Poética is a work in five movements based on different texts by German poets: Novalis, Hölderlin, Rilke, Trakl and Celan. It was premiered by the Trío Arbós with the clarinettist José Luis Estellés.

Further information in Victor Rebullida’s blog.

Jesús Torres resident composer at NEXEduet

Posted by Leticia Martin on November 17, 2008  |  Leave a comment

NEXEduet, the percussion group of Sisco Aparici and Jordi Francés, has picked Jesús Torres as composer in residence for its 3rd PERCUSSION ACADEMY. The course, being held this 5-8 December in Banyeres de Mariola (Alicante), also has guest tutors Christian Dierstein, for Germany, and Daniel Berg, from Sweden.

Percussion occupies a special place in contemporary music, and there now exists a real repertoire for the range of instruments it includes. The works of Jesús Torres are extraordinarily powerful and expressive, as well as being representative of his language, which makes them particularly interesting. The pieces that will be performed at the Academy concerts include Proteus (for solo multi-percussion), Tiento (for marimba and vibraphone), and Dánae (for six percussionists). On 7 December, the students on the course will put on a concert dedicated to the works of Jesús Torres.

“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 Torres in the UNESCO International Music Council

Posted by Redacción on June 26, 2008  |  Leave a comment

The Rostrum of Composers of the Unesco International Music Council (IMC) has selected Jesús Torres “Concerto for accordion and orchestra“. This organization met in Ireland this past June 13 and selected works recommended by the various radio stations from around the world (Torres’ piece was nominated by Spanish National Radio).

The selected titles will be broadcast by countries around the world, which means a big boost for the international career of the composers.

IMC is the world’s leading professional organization dedicated to developing and promoting music worldwide. Founded in 1949 upon request of the Director General of UNESCO as the advisory body to the agency on musical matters, its mission is to provide exceptional value to its membership by building knowledge, creating networking opportunities, supporting and enhancing the visibility of initiatives that help sustain people’s participation in music and cultural life.

Full report of that meeting here.

Release of Glosa by Jesús Torres

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

Glosa, for solo cello, is the latest work by Jesús Torres published by Tritó. A measure of worth of the piece, composed in 2004, is perhaps seen in the fact that it has become an essential part of the repertoire of numerous cellists, including: Suzana Stefanovich, who premiered the piece and is its dedicatee; José Miguel Gómez, of the “Arbós Trio“, who first recorded it on CD for the Autor label; and David Apellániz, who will soon be making a new recording of the “Glosa”.

In the international arena, we should note that Pierre Strauch, of the “Ensemble Intercontemporain”, will be performing it at the next Alicante International Music Festival. We hope that with its publication this work with reach all musicians interested in contemporary repertoire and that many more will join the list of its interpreters.