Gabriel Erkoreka in Zarzuela’s Palacio

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 12, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Queen Sofía has met in the Zarzuela’s Palacio the recently winner of the XXVth Prize Reina Sofia of Musical Composition, Gabriel Erkoreka. Erkoreka has won this prize for his work Fuegos for orchestra.

“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).

Joan Guinjoan protagonist of the 3rd Contemporary Music

Posted by Cristina Martí on October 28, 2008  |  Leave a comment

Joan Guinjoan, one of the leading figures in Spanish contemporary music in the past fifty years, in his dual role as conductor-pianist and composer, is in the spotlight at this year’s Contemporary Music Festival of Barcelona.

A concert cycle of his works opened this past Oct. 15 with a performance by Barcelona 216. Guinjoan was surrounded by the organizers of the cycle, the Caixa Catalunya Foundation and Musicadhoy, and by composers and performers who praised his figure.

Throughout the cycle, his works will be interpreted by some of the top musicians in contemporary music, including Horacio Lavandera, who performed “Verbum” on October 27 and the Cuarteto Diotima, String Quartet on Nov. 5. All concerts are at the Caixa Catalunya Auditorium in Barcelona.

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.

Ramón Humet’s Escenas de viento debuts in Montreal

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 7, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Escenas de viento” (TR634) for orchestra premieres today 30 September in Quebec (Canada) in a concert by the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Jacques Lacombe.

This work is the fruit of a commission by the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra awarded to Ramón Humet as the winner of last year’s Messiaen Composition Prize, organized by the orchestra and its principal director Kent Nagano, for his work Escenas de pájaros.

The music of Ramón Humet, with a highly personal language combining a characteristic melodic sensibility, rhythmic forms, strong contrasts and references to the natural world.

Gabriel Erkoreka’s “Fuegos”, finalist for the Queen Sofía competition

Posted by Marcel Soleda on October 6, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Fuegos” by the composer Gabriel Erkoreka premieres this 10 October at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid with the RTVE Orchestra, conducted by director Adrian Leaper, in the extraordinary final concert of the Queen Sofía Composition Prize organized by the Ferrer Salat Foundation.

The programme also includes this year’s other finalist work, Concertino for Viola and Orchestra by the Japanese composer Takahiro Sakuma.

Gabriel Erkoreka was born in Bilbao in 1968 and has lived in London for more than ten years. Among other composition honours, he has won First Prize from the Spanish Society of Authors and Writers (SGAE); the Basque Government Prize; the Josiah Parker Prize; the Rome Prize, as well as prizes from the Spanish National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM) and the Spanish College of Paris. He is an honorary associate member of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) and composition tutor at MUSIKENE-Higher Conservatory of Music of the Basque Country.

This is his first work published by Tritó.

Monographic CD by Agustín Charles on Stradivarius

Posted by Marcel Soleda on September 30, 2008  |  Leave a comment

“Listening to the music of Agustín Charles one perceives the personality filled with fantasy and vitality of someone who writes and listens with authenticity, with intensity.”

These words from Nacho de Paz might encapsulate the spirit of Agustí Charles‘ music now available on this monographic CD from the Stradivarius label, performed by the Community of Madrid Orchestra conducted by director José Ramón Encinar.

The works included on the CD are Seven Looks for Orchestra (2003, inspired in the poetry of García Lorca and winner of the AEOS composition prize), Concertino for Clarinet and Chamber Group (2006, with the brilliant solo work of Salvador Salvador) and Concerto for Orchestra (2004).

Hèctor Parra at the Warsaw Festival

Posted by Cristina Martí on September 29, 2008  |  Leave a comment

The Chamber Symphony No. 2 “Fibrilian” (TR286) by the Catalan composer Hèctor Parra was the sole Spanish premiere at this year’s Warsaw Autumn Festival, dedicated to Ibero-American music. The Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Ernst Kovacic, performed the piece this past Sunday 21 September in the Chamber Hall of the National Philharmonic.
This premiere confirms the international status of Hèctor Parra, composer resident in Paris whose works have been performed by the leading ensembles in Europe, and who enjoys an especially close relationship with the Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris.

Música per a orgue, by Robert de la Riba

Posted by Marcel Soleda on September 4, 2008  |  Leave a comment

A new eight-volume edition of “Música per a orgue”, the complete organ works by Father Robert de la Riba, has just been published. This edition offers organists and scholars Robert de la Riba’s invaluable contribution to the 20th century repertoire of organ music.

His enormous sensitivity prompted him to explore the optimum registration for each work within the specific tonal context of each instrument, i.e., in benefit of the expression – in the presence or alternation of the themes – without him allowing himself to be influenced by the fashion for tonal neutrality propounded in the reinterpretations of ancient music that appeared in the second half of the 20th century.

The eight-volume set of music for organ by the composer from Tarragona constitutes an essential contribution to the organ repertoire of the 20th century. The revision has been carried out by Josep Maria Gregori using the original manuscripts conserved in the Fondo Robert de la Riba in the Musical Archive of the Capuchin friars in Sarriá in Barcelona (photo of the organ).

Download a sample…

Preludis i fugues

Variacions

Further information and samples at www.trito.es

El Soldadito de Plomo, at Petit Peralada

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

The Perelada Festival embarks on a new venture with a firm commitment to attracting new audiences by bringing classical music in a broad range of formats to children. The Cadaqués Orchestra Ensemble, which has always had among its goals to educate people about music, will be performing “El soldadito de Plomo” (The Steadfast Tin Soldier) composed by Emilio Aragón, based on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

With great descriptive and dramatic power, Aragón’s music for this universal tale takes us through the story, narrated by the actress Rosa Novell, of the adventures of a toy soldier in love with a ballerina.

The narration is in Catalan, with Jaime Martín conducting the arrangement by Albert Guinovart. The Catalan version is available from Tritó as part of our La Corxera Juganera collection and will soon be out in Spanish with narration by Javier Cámara.