Albéniz for guitar, by Javier Riba

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

Although Isaac Albéniz did not compose for the guitar, the transcriptions for this instrument of his music constitute an important oeuvre and were numerous even during the composer’s lifetime. Francisco Tárrega’s transcriptions for performers like Andrés Segovia have contributed to the renown of Albéniz’s piano works.

Some of Tárrega’s transcriptions are included on the recording La guitarra soñada, along with others by the guitarist Javier Riba, who on this CD offers an elegant and solid performance backed by a profound grasp of Albéniz and the guitar idiom. Included on the CD is a selection of some of the best-known works by the Catalan composer: Iberia, Suite Española, España and Pavana.

This is what Walter Aaron Clark, an Albéniz scholar, has to say about the quality of these transcriptions: “But I had always felt that a solo guitarist could not do justice to this music. The guitar virtuoso Javier Riba, an artist of the first order, has proved the falseness of that claim, for which we should all be grateful.”

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.

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A previously unpublished symphony by Josep Pons (1770-1818) has been included in volume 6 of the Collection “Compositors valencians”, published by Tritó in conjunction with the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

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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The Orquestra de Cadaqués celebrates its twentieth anniversary

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 31, 2008  |  Leave a comment

On the occasion of the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, a selection of CDs with performances by the orchestra are on sale during 2008 in www.trito.es at a price of 8 euros (one CD) and 14 euros (double CD).

Guinovart – Morera – Txaikovski

The first CD in the Cadaqués Live Recording collection is a combination of music as eclectic as it is surprising. La vida secreta, by Albert Guinovart; las Cançons de carrer, by Enric Morera; and the Suite no. 4 in G major, “Mozartiana”, op.61, by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Vasily Petrenko conducts the Orquestra de Cadaqués and the soprano Rosa Mateu.

Mozart – Haydn – Beethoven

The three masters of European Classicism coincide on this CD with works that are very representative of their repertory. The Overture of Le Nozze de Figaro, by W.A.Mozart; the Symphony nº 104 “London”, by F.J.Haydn; and the Symphony nº 4, by L.V.Beethoven. Gianandrea Noseda conducts the ODC.

Gounod – Fauré

Two of the main representatives of French Romanticism come together in a CD that contains three of their most notable works. Pavane, op.50 and Cantique de Jean Racine, by Gabriel Fauré, and the Symphony nº 2 in E flat major, by Charles Gounod. Sir Neville Marriner conducts the ODC with the collaboration of the Amici Musicae choir and the choir of the Auditorio de Zaragoza.

Mozart: The woodwind concertos

On this double CD the Orquestra de Cadaqués plays four concertos for woodwind by W.A.Mozart with the participation of some outstanding soloists: Christopher Cowie, Joan Enric Lluna, Jaime Martín and David Tomàs. Once again, Sir Neville Marriner leads the orchestra in the performance of the concertos for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.

Mozart: Sinfonie concertanti

Yet again a monographic CD dedicated to the genius of European Classicism. This time it is the Sinfonie concertanti k.364 and 297b, with the first arranged as a double concerto y and the second as a concerto with a quartet of soloists. The Orquestra de Cadaqués, under the baton of its guest conductor, Sir Neville Marriner, manages to transmit perfectly the moments of resounding brilliance in the rapid movements, and also the high levels of restrained drama evoked by the andante in the first sinfonia. A real pleasure.

Mozart: The flute concertos

The same great sense of drama and stage presence that Mozart developed in the field of music for theatre is the driving force and the spirit which, in the purely instrumental field, characterises his repertory of concerto works.
 
And this is because, the same as in his opera arias, the possibilities of a musical approach as simple as the dialectics established between the individual and the group were fertile ground when it came to developing certain characteristics inherent to the creative side of the composer’s character. Sir Neville Marriner’s experienced baton and the virtuoso flute of Jaime Martín together, leading the Orquestra de Cadaqués.

Beethoven: Symphonies 1 and 2

In 1911 the manuscript of a symphony in C major was found in the city of Jena and attributed to Beethoven. For half a century it was considered to be his first attempt in this field. When the falseness of this claim was verified, the Symphony op.21 was definitively confirmed as his first contribution to a genre in which he established basic concepts of unavoidable reference for all those who would subsequently tackle this musical form.
 
At this stage in time there is little we don’t know about Beethoven’s symphonic work. The two symphonies are masterfully performed by the ODC, and with Sir Neville Marriner conducting.
 
For further information and mp3 samples click on the links for each CD.

“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).

Published Fantasia for Tuba and Piano

Posted by Leticia Martin on October 28, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Fantasia for Tuba and piano” by Bartolomé Pérez Casas, probably one of the earliest works ever written for these two instruments, is now available from the Tritó catalogue. The project to publish this landmark work for the tuba entailed a major research effort by both the publisher and reviser Miguel Moreno Guna, from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, to find the composer’s original manuscript as well as the historical documentation essential for the best possible recreation of the score.

Bartolomé Pérez Casas was a leading figure in Spanish music in the first half of the twentieth century, as director of the Royal Lancers Corps Band, professor of harmony at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, founder and director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Madrid and director of the Spanish National Orchestra between 1942 and 1947. His knowledge of wind instruments and his music teaching skills make this an essential piece in the tuba repertoire.