(Castellano) (Català) El Moviment Coral Català, a debat

Posted by Toni Cruanyes on January 13, 2012  |  Leave a comment

Cea, Leighton and the organs of Cuenca

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

The I Organ Course ‘Julián de la Orden’, organised through the Cuenca Religious Music Week, began on 3 September and lasts until 11 September. Students of eight nationalities are attending classes of baroque organ taught by Brett Leighton and Andrés Cea, with a manualiter repertoire from the XVI-XVIII centuries; and a seminar given by David Catalunya, with a keyboard repertoire from the XIV and XV centuries.

As the opening act of the course, on 4 September a concert for two organs was given at the Cathedral of Cuenca by two of the teachers, the organists Andrés Cea and Brett Leighton, with a didactic character and specially addressed to a family audience, with the children being guided between oral explanations and musical examples in order to show them the technical possibilities and potential sound spectrum of these instruments.

Andrés Cea was born in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). He studied in France and Switzerland, where Brett Leighton was a fellow student. He currently lives in Seville and teaches at the city’s conservatory. He has given concerts all over the world and recorded numerous albums, also performing with orchestras and other ensembles. Brett Leighton is Australian. He came to Europe for his organ studies and currently resides in Austria. He teaches in the city of Linz. He has performed numerous concerts on the most famous organs in Europe. Both organists had already played separately in the Cathedral of Cuenca and this was the first time they have given a concert together.

Among the activities during this course, the students have visited the archive of the Cathedral of Cuenca to view the musical documents kept there and also the musical instruments in its possession, and had the opportunity to get to know the organ in the church at Villar de Cañas. And on September 8, it was the students on the course who showed their expertise in a concert at the Cathedral.

On September 9, at 21.00 h. there will be a final recital in the Cathedral with the medieval music ensemble ‘Canto Coronato’ conducted by Professor David Catalunya.

Source: Voces de Cuenca

• Listen to Andrés Cea playing the organ

Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with music

Posted by Marcel Soleda on August 26, 2011  |  1 Comment

Still rummaging through de musical chest in Youtube we discover Bobby McFerrin leaving us gobsmacked in this fun, 3-min performance from the 2009 World Science Festival. He uses the pentatonic scale to reveal one surprising result of the way our brains are wired. Who said that music is not a universal language?

• Link to this video

• Link a este vídeo

Three unpublished sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti now available

Posted by Cristina Martí on August 24, 2011  |  Leave a comment

This August has seen the issue of three unpublished sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti: the sonatas for harpsichord in A, in E and in F, with a study carried out by the musicologist and lecturer at the university of Valladolid Águeda Pedrero-Encabo.

Two of the three sonatas that make up this edition (the Sonata in E and the Sonata in A) were presented for the first time in a free transcription made by Enrique Granados in 1905 for piano and which Joel Sheveloff used to reconstruct the possible originals for harpsichord, as these were thought to be lost. However, this researcher concluded that the transcriptions made by the Catalan composer were not taken from works by Scarlatti, for which reason these sonatas have always been regarded as “dubious.”

Later, M. Ester-Sala discovered the supposedly lost manuscript – M1964 – in the Biblioteca de Catalunya. She published the two sonatas in a facsimile edition, leaving their analysis to other researchers, some of whom, such as Walter Aaron Clark, concluded that the sonata in A is not by Scarlatti but by Courcelle, and that the sonata in E was the work of an anonymous composer.

The present publication is intended to be a critical edition of the original scores of the sonatas in A mayor and E mayor, which makes it possible to study them directly, given that they possess enough of Scarlatti’s traits to suggest they are originals.

As always, we would like to have your opinion: Do you agree that they are by Domenico Scarlatti? Take a look at the Sonata in A and let us know what you think.

• More about these sonatas by Doménico Scarlatti
• See more works by Domenico Scarlatti

Commitment to music, by Javier Pérez Senz

Posted by Javier Pérez Senz on June 9, 2011  |  Leave a comment

There are things that stir the music-lover’s memory, which bring back reminiscences of that irreplaceable experience which consists of listening to live music in its natural environment, the auditorium. For many fans, the recent recording of the symphonic rhapsody Catalonia, by Isaac Albéniz, at the hands of Jaime Martin and the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC) will come as a pleasant surprise: the discovery of a score that exudes freshness, simplicity and melodic charm. For others, it will imply the rediscovery of a work that would be an obligatory part of the concert repertoire in any civilized country, but here, sadly, is not.

Its audition allows listeners to refresh their impressions and memories of great conductors and composers who, throughout their careers, demonstrated their belief in the value of this piece by their acts, without getting caught up in the widespread and sterile debate about Albéniz’s poor reputation as an orchestrator. Certainly, it is a marvel of refinement, but, when performed with full conviction of its merits, the listener is immediately captivated by the simplicity, the melodic inspiration and eternal freshness that permeate the Catalan composer’s music.

I am speaking of legendary musicians, such as the Russian Igor Markévitch, especially in his wonderful period of artistic involvement with the Orquesta Sinfónica de la RTVE; the Romanian Georges Enescu, stalwart defender of a piece that he often programmed, and all over the world; and Eduard Toldrà, the brilliant Catalan violinist, conductor and composer who, in 1944, created the Orquestra Municipal de Barcelona (now the OBC, which has at last recorded Catalonia), and who was a fervent promoter of the Spanish repertoire.

A greater commitment to music is needed and less obsession with attendance figures and box office takings.

There is a need for concert programmers who really believe in Spanish music.

The list includes musicians who are active at this time, such as Antoni Ros Marbà, a passionate perfomer of Albéniz and, in a very special way, of Toldrà, who was his teacher, Jesús López Cobos and José de Eusebio (thanks to his enthusiasm we now know more about the Camprodón musician’s operatic legacy than ever before; the recording discussed today includes an orchestral suite from Pepita Jiménez revised by him), and on his first CD with the OBC, Jaime Martin,

Albéniz had and has eloquent supporters. Why, then, is Catalonia still rarely heard in concert halls? Difficult question. First of all, there is a need for concert programmers who really believe in Spanish music. It is pointless to include just four or five pieces in a whole symphonic season; nor is the Spanish share of the programmes sufficient; nor are there enough commissions, increasingly unambitious and scarce. A greater commitment to music is needed and less obsession with attendance figures and box office takings.

There is enough leeway to balance the offer using the more popular classics to attract the general public –it all depends on the programmers’ imagination. The regularisation of works such as Catalonia – and this piece is just one example because there are hundreds of scores in the same situation – requires a strong alliance between performers, programmers and the public.

The musicians with power – and the chief conductors of a symphonic ensemble have a lot of power – are the ones who ultimately have a greater say when it comes to choosing which works are programmed and which are left out: when a chief conductor wants to play a given piece, eventually it gets played.

Programmers, managers and artistic directors should limit themselves to doing their duty, because the revival and dissemination of the national repertoire is an obligation for all orchestras, auditoriums and the concert-going public.

As for the public, the greatest possible complicity is needed, using the media that now, more than ever, can arouse – if used with imagination and efficiency  – music-lovers’ curiosity, the desire to discover new and old scores, the possibility of expanding frontiers.

Fernando Sor and the guitar: beyond six strings

Posted by Josep Dolcet on May 6, 2011  |  Leave a comment

As part of the European tour of the musicianand researcher John Doan, associate professor at the Willamette University in Salem (Oregon, USA), the Sor Society of Barcelona (SSB) has organised, in conjunction with the Barcelona Museum of Music, a seminar (conference and recital) on Fernando Sor and his decisive role in the evolution of the guitar and other plucked string instruments.

The Catalan Fernando Sor (Barcelona 1778 – Paris 1839), besides being one of the leading composers in Spain during the transitional period between Classicism and Romanticism, was the musician who, thanks to his works and performances, raised the guitar to the category of concert instrument in the “cultured” world of international music. What is less known is that Sor also played a decisive role in the technical development of the guitar, through his contacts with the most important luthiers of his epoch.

In addition, Sor also composed for an instrument invented at that time: the harpolyre (a guitar with three necks and 21 strings). After the conference we will be able to listen to these pieces for the first time in Europe after almost a century of neglect, thanks to the arrangements made by John Doan.

A well known figure on the Celtic music scene today, John Doan will also play some pieces on the harp guitar, his usual instrument.
For further information on the session at the Museum of Music >

The “Organ music in Catalonia” Collection

Posted by Cristina Martí on March 28, 2011  |  Leave a comment

We are pleased to present the new collection “Organ music in Catalonia”, a series of albums focusing on organ music written by Catalan composers and others who worked mainly in Catalonia: Fray Antonio Martín y Coll, Gabriel Menalt, Francesc Espelt and Josep Teixidor are some of the composers whose works can be found on the first two CDs in this series.

The first album, Catalan Organ Music XVI-XVII c., focuses on the Baroque repertoire, but linking it to the first examples of keyboard music written by Catalan composers. The CD features a recently published repertoire, including the Mass Versets by Francesc Espelt, and other works whose scores are about to be published on the Tritó label, all played by Andrés Cea. The scores of the works on the second CD, Catalan Organ Music XVIII-XIX c., are published by Tritó Edicions, except the “Glosas” by Teixidor and the pieces by Ponti.

You can find information about both CDs and audio samples here:

Catalan Organ Music XVI-XVII c.

Catalan Organ Music XVIII-XIX c.

Collection Música Breu

Posted by Cristina Martí on January 18, 2011  |  Leave a comment

Tritó Edicions is pleased to present the new collection of chamber music scores. Titled Música Breu, it consists of a series of short Spanish pieces for chamber orchestra.  In December the following titles were published, which you can obtain in the shop:

Preludio a Melisendra, by Agustí Charles
Interludi, by Manuel García Morante
Interludi de Castertelçol, by Josep María Mestres Quadreny
Interludi amb música antiga, by Xavier Benguerel
Intermezzo, by Miquel Ortega
Octet, by Benet Casablancas
Interludi, by David Padrós

The work that Albéniz began and Granados finished

Posted by Marcel Soleda on December 22, 2010  |  1 Comment

“Azulejos is really delightful. Rosina has given me the original copy by Isaac and I treasure it. But I’m happy to share it with you. Would you like a copy? I’ll send you the original of what I’ve written.”

This is how the letter ends that Enrique Granados sent to Joaquim Malats in 1910 about Azulejos, an exquisite piano work that the maestro Isaac Albéniz had left unfinished and which would have constituted the beginning of a second suite, following the success of the Suite Iberia. Granados began at bar 51 and left it with its present 154 bars in a masterly exercise in composition, where he is faithful to his own style but at the same time does not betray the original spirit Albéniz’s work.

The finished work was published in 1911 by Édition Mutuelle in Paris. The original manuscripts were separated and have been held up to the present day in the Museum of Music of Barcelona and the Biblioteca de Catalunya, respectively. However the central sheet which contains the union of the two parts got lost and finally appeared in a collection of autograph scores. Probably owing to its peculiarity, it was removed, framed and exhibited at the Institut del Teatre.

As a result of this discovery the Biblioteca de Catalunya prepared a special edition, with score and facsimile of the original, to mark the hundredth anniversary of the composition of this work.

This new edition has been used to record the CD Azulejos, música de cámara, which, as well as the performance of Azulejos by the pianist Jean-Bernard Pommier, contains the Quintet in G minor and the Trío in C by Enrique Granados, performed by Santiago Juan and Cristian Benito, violin; Alejandro Garrido, viola; and Màrius Díaz, violoncello.

Listen to it here >

Presentation of two monographic CDs by Charles and Casablancas

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 29, 2010  |  Leave a comment

Next Friday 3 December, at 12:30, will see the presentation of two monographic CDs: Elapsed Memories, by Agustí Charles, and Complete String Quartets and Trio, by Benet Casablancas. The act will be held at the Club Social of the headquarters of the Sgae Group in Catalonia (Passeig Colom, 6).

Ramon Muntaner, Llorenç Caballero, director of Tritó Edicions, and the composers themselves, Benet Casablancas and Agustí Charles, will speak at the presentation.

The work of the composer and musicologist Casablancas was recorded in the chamber music hall of the Auditori de Girona on 27, 28 and 29 July 2009 with the collaboration of the SGAE and the Fundació Autor, and consists of five pieces of music: Five interludes -quasi variazioni- (1983), String quartet no. 2 (1991), String trio (1992), Encore for Arditti (2004) and String quartet no. 3 -Raging in the Dark- (2009).

On the other hand, in September 2009 at the Auditori de Barcelona, the OBC under the baton of Jaime Martín recorded three orchestral works by the composer Agustí Charles: Elapsed Memories (2006), Double Variations (1994) and Effigies II (1998).

For further information see: www.sgae.es.