This year marks the centenary of the birth of one of the most esteemed composers of our editorial house, the prolific Xavier Montsalvatge.

Numerous events will be performed during 2012 to honor his career and work.

TRITÓ joins tribute with a double-disc reissue released by our label in 2002. It brings together the masterpieces of the composer’s catalog (not the most performed): Sortilegis, Sinfonietta-Concerto, Metamorfosi de concert, Impromptu en el Generalife, Hommage à Manolo Hugué and the Concierto del Albayzín.

At that time, the album had been conceived not only as a tribute to the composer in his ninetieth year, but above all as a gift from a group of friends to the Maestro. It brought together many of the ideas that had emerged in conversations we had with Xavier Montsalvatge during his life.  Llorenç Caballero

This project would have been unthinkable without the presence of some of the great musicians of our time as Alicia de Larrocha, James Martin, Josep Colom and the Cadaqués Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda as conductor.

Today our purpose is more ambitious, we want to help the music to appreciate and claim Montsalvatge from other countries, especially across the Atlantic.

Related posts:

1. Re-edition of the Granados’ Opera Goyescas
2. New disk of French Romanticism: Fauré, Ravel and Bizet
3. The Orquesta de Castilla y León and Cadaqués Orchestra perform Shostakovich

Catalunya still boasts a wide offer of summer festivals. It’s true that there is not always a clear programming policy, and all too often the proposals consist of presenting several concerts without a common theme or clear artistic focus, but the offer still stands, despite the crisis.

In the case of Barcelona, the situation is rather depressing. In fact, it is a city where classical music almost disappears in the summer. Only the Gran Teatre del Liceu offers a quality programme during July: the end of the season includes concerts of Tamerlane by Handel, with Plácido Domingo and Bejun Mehta in the cast, and Daphne, by Richard Strauss, with Pablo González making his debut at the Liceu at the helm of the OBC.

The Festival Grec has increased its classical offer, traditionally rather scarce, under the artistic direction of Ricardo Szwarcer, and forthcoming events include an opera concert with Ainhoa Arteta and the Cadaqués Orchestra under the baton of Jaime Martin, with Puccini featuring prominently in the programme.

Incidentally, the great Basque soprano has just released an extraordinary recital with the pianist Malcolm Martineau, which is her debut with the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label. The repertoire includes pieces by Charles Gounod, Georges Bizet, Reynaldo Hahn and an exciting section devoted to the great Spanish song repertoire including the Cinco canciones negras by Xavier Montsalvatge, four Tonadillas al estilo antiguo, by Enric Granados and the Poema en forma de canciones, op. 19, by Joaquín Turina.

Fortunately, despite the crisis, many summer festivals remain active, but the compulsive search for new audiences and the blind obsession with eclecticism as a programming formula has swept away many of the hallmarks of some of the most traditional venues.

The same cannot be said of the classical offer at the Auditori – reduced to its minimum expression, although this year the Sónar has included a magnificent homage to Steve Reich – or the Palau de la Música Catalana, with an offer exclusively intended to attract tourists.

Fortunately, despite the crisis, many summer festivals remain active, but the compulsive search for new audiences and the blind obsession with eclecticism as a programming formula has swept away many of the hallmarks of some of the most traditional venues. Where once classical music reigned supreme – because most festivals around Catalonia began as festivals specializing in classical music – world music, jazz, pop and other genres now share the limelight.

The trend is not necessarily bad, but caution is needed and the occasional mega concert in search of mass audiences is not to be entirely trusted. One thing is to harness the pull of the media stars so as to be able to display the sold-out sign, something legitimate and commendable, and another thing is to overlook the rest, the promotion of new values and local productions as a sign of identity. In this sense, we can applaud the consistency, rigour and unquestionable quality of the Torroella de Montgrí International Festival of Music and also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Festival Castell de Peralada, which this year returns to its origins with a sensational programme focused on opera.

This summer also counts on two new events, conceived with the idea of supporting very distinct artistic proposals. On the one hand, the Festival de Música Antiga dels Pirineus has been launched with plenty of momentum, fruit of the joint efforts of different institutions in the Pyrenees. Its programming policy is clear and attractive: drawing on the beauty of the rich architectural heritage in the area and its suitability as a backdrop for early music, in order to offer evenings with musical personality, presented by the best bands and singers specialised in the historical performance of the early and baroque repertoire . And, importantly, the idea is to make it a key event for both the international promotion of the best Catalan ensembles and soloists and the dissemination of our musical heritage.

The second proposal also combines architectural beauty with music and includes gastronomy as a novel incentive. This is the Modernist soirees in the unique setting of the Monestir de San Benet, a proposal that offers visitors the chance to enjoy a concert of “Modernist” music in the monastery cellars and, optionally, during the same evening visit the “Modernist” space dedicated to Ramon Casas at Món Sant Benet and enjoy supper in the gardens.

No related posts.

Starting today and for several weeks, we intend to present a series of posts that introduce the conductors who have recorded on the Tritó label. Our intention is to highlight the figure of these conductors, presenting a short biography and showing you the CDs available on our shop.

The first in this list is Gianandrea Noseda (Milan, 1964). He studied piano, composition and conducting in his hometown, and broadened his conducting studies under Donato Renzetti, Myung-Whun Chung and Valery Gergiev.
Gergiev invited him to be principal guest conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1997. In 1994 he won the Cadaqués Orchestra International Conducting Competition, and was later appointed Chief Conductor of the Cadaqués Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Settimana Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore Festival in Italy. In 2007, Noseda became Music Director of the Teatro Regio di Torino.

In December 2001, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and took up the post in September 2002, renewing his contract in 2003. In 2005 he appeared on BBC radio in several projects, conducting Beethoven’s nine symphonies in Manchester. In October 2006, Noseda extended his contract for another two years and become Chief Conductor. It is expected that the 2010-2011 season will be his last at the helm of the BBC Philharmonic and that he will be named honorary director of the orchestra.
For further information, click here to view Noseda’s complete biography on the website of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Noseda conducts both symphonic and opera works. He has made several recordings with the BBC Philharmonic on the Chandos label, and nine CDs on the Tritó label while leading the Cadaqués Orchestra.

Complete discography at The Shop at Tritó.es >

Related posts:

1. Our conductors III: Vasily Petrenko
2. Gianandrea Noseda conducts Brahms
3. Our conductors (IV). Sir Neville Marriner

Jaime Martin, a founding member of the Cadaqués Orchestra, was yesterday officially appointed chief conductor of the orchestra, in an act held in Madrid at the Café de la Opera in calle Arrieta 6. He will share this post with Gianandrea Noseda – chief conductor since 1994, year in which he won the Cadaqués Orchestra conducting composition – who will continue as principal and chief conductor, and with Sir Neville Marriner, who is principal guest conductor.

His first performance in this post will take place in a very special context. Two concerts in Zaragoza and Madrid where Jaime Martin will be accompanied by Lisa Batiashvili on this tour with the Cadaqués Orchestra. The concerts will take place on Monday 7 February at the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid and Tuesday 8 February at the Auditorio de Zaragoza, as part of the Ibermúsica Cycle.

If you are interested, here you can consult the recordings made by the Cadaqués Orchestra.

Jaime Martín

After an intense career as a flute soloist, Jaime Martín entered in the world of orchestral conduction at the hand of Sir Neville Marriner, who presented him on a joint tour of Spain with the Cadaqués Orchestra. Since then he has conducted the Manchester Camerata, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Simfònica del Vallès and the Sinfónica de Galicia, among others. In the forthcoming months he will work with Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Cadaqués Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the London Mozart Players, and he will make his operatic debut in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the English National Opera.

On the Tritó label he has recorded Beethoven’s Third Symphony and the Sinfonietta by Ernesto Halffter with the Cadaqués Orchestra, as well as two CDs with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, with works by the composers Agustí Charles and Isaac Albéniz.

Born in Santander, Jaime Martín studied in Madrid and later in The Hague (Holland). He has been flute soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the orchestra of the English National Opera, and has also held the same position on numerous occasions with the Cadaqués Orchestra. He is currently flute soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and a teacher at the Royal College of Music in London.

As a flute soloist he has performed with a large number of orchestras including the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virtuosos of Moscow, the Orquesta de Santa Cecilia de Roma, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Sinfónica de Tenerife, the Sinfónica de Galicia, the Sinfónica de Radio y Televisión Española, the Sinfónica de Castilla y León, etc. On the Tritó label, with the Cadaqués Orchestra, he has recorded Mozart’s concertos for flute and orchestra under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner and the Sinfonietta Concerto by Xavier Montsalvatge under Gianandrea Noseda. He has also recorded Bach’s concertos for flute, violin and piano for Sony, with Murray Perahia and the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, and the Mozart Quartets for flute and strings for EMI.

Jaime Martín has performed chamber music with artists such as Julian Bream, Beaux Arts Trio, Pinchas Zukermann and Pierre Laurant Aimard, and has made numerous recordings with the Gaudier Ensemble.

He has been chief conductor of the Cadaqués Orchestra since the end of 2010.

Jaime Martín and the Cadaqués Orchestra in the media

Jaime Martín, nombrado director titular de la Orquesta de Cadaqués (Revista Doce Notas)

J.Martín quiere “europeizar” a la Orquesta de Cadaqués con sus “contactos” (ABC)

«La dirección de orquesta me da una increíble sensación de libertad» (El diario montañés)

Jaime Martín asume la dirección de la Orquesta de Cadaqués para darle dimensión internacional (Europa Press)

El flautista de Cadaqués (La Vanguardia)

No related posts.

The application period for participation in the Cadaqués Orchestra international conducting competition will open soon. Thanks to this competition, prestigious conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko and Pablo González, winners in previous years, were able to give their careers a decisive push forward.

As on previous occasions, the competition includes both a classical orchestral repertoire, with works by composers such as Schubert, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, and Spanish music, old and new. The composer commissioned to write the compulsory piece for this 10th competition is José María Sánchez Verdú. It will be performed during the final stages of the competition.

The jury, chaired by the Russian maestro Gennady Rozhdestvensky, is made up of professionals from the world of music and – something that is basic to the proceedings of this competition – members of the Orquesta de Cadaqués itself.

Online application will be open from January 7th on the orchestra website, where you can view the terms and conditions, the history of the competition, and also the Orchestra’s activities. The competition repertoire may be acquired through www.trito.es.

No related posts.

The recent tour of the Orquesta de Cadaqués, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, with concerts in Girona (28 April) and Zaragoza (29 Abril) focussed on Spanish music. The repertoire consisted of pieces by Isaac Albéniz, to mark the centenary of his death, and Enrique Granados, and their works were interpreted using the orchestrations that Albert Guinovart was commissioned to write by Tritó Edicions.

The Orquesta de Cadaqués presented four pieces from the Suite Española (Cadiz, Asturias, Cordoba and Sevilla) by Albéniz as well as his Canciones Italianas, interpreted by Ainhoa Arteta. Las Tonadillas by Enrique Granados completed a first part in which the Orquesta de Cadaqués, Gianandrea Noseda and Ainhoa Arteta paid their own special homage to Spanish music.

The concert programme was completed by F. Schubert’s Symphony nº 4.

Related posts:

1. Re-edition of the Granados’ Opera Goyescas
2. Gianandrea Noseda conducts Brahms
3. Our conductors (I): Gianandrea Noseda

Two new titles have been added to the Solfa la Redonda collection of CDs for children, which maintains its policy of motivating and encouraging children to get to know classical music, this time counting on the voices of Gonzalo de Castro and Javier Cámara.

These two novelties by Spanish composers, El soldadito de Plomo (The Tin Soldier) by Emilio Aragón and las Fábulas de Lafontaine (La Fontaine’s Fables) by Xavier Benguerel, join the ranks of such notable titles and famous classics in the children’s repertoire as Peter and the Wolf by Prokoviev and the Story of Babar by Francisc Poulenc, already on sale.

The Orquesta de Cadaqués Ensemble plays all the musical parts, conducted this time by Emilio Aragón and Philippe Entremont respectively. The narrative counts on the invaluable cooperation of some of the most versatile actors on the national scene, who took part in this project thrilled by the possibility of addressing such a demanding audience as children: Javier Cámara and Gonzalo de Castro join Tristán Ulloa and Leonor Watling, who have already participated in previous recordings.

No related posts.

On Monday 23 March, the Orquesta de Cadaqués ensemble, under the baton of Alejandro Posada, interpreted a programme that included three fundamental works by the composers Xavier Benguerel (Hexagrama), Ernest Martínez Izquierdo (Norte-Sur) and Jesús Rueda (Chamber concerto no 2).

These three works, written in very different languages, present part of the current Spanish music scene.

The concert was completed by one of Arnold Schonberg’s masterworks, Ode to Napoleon, with a solo contribution by the baritone and actor David Moss.

Further information at: http://cdmc.mcu.es/

Related posts:

1. Jesús Rueda’s La Tierra debuts in Madrid
2. Piano works by Jesús Rueda, a novelty from Naxos in September
3. Madrid Premiere of “La Tierra”, by Jesús Rueda

Cap de Quers by David del Puerto, a work commissioned by the Orquesta de Cadaqués and the CDMC for the 9th International Conducting Competition of the said orchestra, was presented in Valladolid on 9 and 10 January. The principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Columbian Alejandro Posada, chose this work for this season’s opening performance with the orchestra at the Auditorio Miguel Delibes in Valladolid.

Cap de Quers received its name from David del Puerto as a tribute to the Orquesta de Cadaqués and the conducting competition. It was played by the finalists in the 9th competition and it proved to be a work of great interest for both the musicians and the public, which was completely won over, as is demonstrated by the fact that it has been performed on several occasions since its premiere and will shortly be played at Auditorio Nacional de Madrid.

Cap de Quers

Related posts:

1. Our conductors (V): Alejandro Posada
2. Inauguration of the Auditorio de Música de Valladolid Miguel Delibes.
3. Jesús Rueda premieres Hyperión II in Valladolid

The Cadaqués Orchestra conducted by Gianandrea Noseda presents the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms in a double CD.

This symphonic cycle, despite being one of the least extensive, is one of the keys to understanding the transition from classicism to romanticism and orchestral music from the 19th century to the present day.

The ODC ensemble, smaller than usual for this repertoire, becomes a brilliant tool in the hands of the Italian conductor, who knows every nuance of the score and brings out the best in each of the musicians with a splendid labour that results in masterly performances.

Simphnony no.1 Un poco sostenuto – Allegro

Simphnony no.2 Allegro non troppo

All the symphonies were recorded at the Auditorio de Zaragoza after a tour of various Spanish cities.

The Orquesta de Cadaqués accepted the challenge of making the first recording of this complete set by a Spanish ensemble, with a magnificent result that is on a par with the key recordings of this repertoire. A recording that was an important undertaking in both its artistic and technical aspects and which will surprise and please both the connoisseurs if this repertoire and those who are listening to it for the first time.

Simphnony no.2 Adagio non troppo

Simphnony no.3 Andante

Simphnony no.3 Allegro

Further information at www.trito.es

Related posts:

1. Our conductors (I): Gianandrea Noseda
2. Gianandrea Noseda conducts Albéniz and Granados
3. Alejandro Posada conducts Cap de Quers in Valladolid