The Magic Opal, by Isaac Albéniz, in a voice edition

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

Even in August, Tritó continues working for Spanish music. So this last month we edited and published the reduction for piano of the opera The Magic Opal, a fantastic story in two acts with pirates, ghosts and impossible loves made possible by art of magic on the coast of Karatol, composed by Isaac Albéniz in his London period. And in this work we discover the composer’s personal style mixed with typical elements of Victorian opera.

Therefore, as we were saying, this opera, which up till now you could only obtain in its full version or rent, is now also available as a reduction for solo voices, choir and piano at a launch price of just 31.20 euros.

The Magic Opal by Isaac Albéniz

Posted by Arnau Farré on April 14, 2011  |  2 Comments

Josep Pla was of the opinion that music should be systematically understandable: “if necessary, to the point of sheer vulgarity, mud and bricks and that’s it.” The operetta genre lends itself more freely to this description than others, or to put it in a more pedantic and euphemistic way, this excess of comprehensibility.

Using an eccentric libretto that situates the action on the coast of Greece (a circumstance that determines the names of some characters but has no influence on the music, unless it’s the abundance of Phrygian cadences) Isaac Albéniz complies effectively with the customs of Victorian operetta.

Now, in a magnificent edition by Borja Mariño, this work is newly available and we have the opportunity to approach it with a full and thorough knowledge of the facts. Forget any condescension towards the genre, though: it is more than likely that “The Magic Opal” has moments of ambivalent simplicity in store for us, unbearable and delicious at the same time.

Listen to an excerpt from The Magic Opal >

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!

Catalonia by Isaac Albéniz

Posted by Cristina Martí on January 3, 2011  |  1 Comment

The two great symphonic works by Isaac Albéniz, Catalonia and Catalan Symphonic Scenes, have been virtually ignored by the recording companies: the versions of Catalonia available on the market are scarce, date back over two decades and are from abroad, and as regards Symphonic Scenes there is no evidence of any recordings prior to this release.

Following the recent revival of the opera Pepita Jimenez, a suite was released that brings together the orchestral sections and it concludes this selection of repertoire that aims to bring the public closer to Isaac Albéniz’s authentic symphonism.

The new recording is titled Catalonia and includes the abovementioned works, performed by the Orquestra Sinfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya under the baton of Jaime Martín. It should be mentioned that the sleeve notes were written by the musicologist Josep Dolcet.

Listen to it here >

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 >

New edition of the Complete Works for voice and piano by Isaac Albéniz

Posted by Leticia Martin on September 25, 2009  |  Leave a comment

To mark the centenary of Isaac Albéniz’s death, Tritó Publishers has issued a new revised edition of this composer’s complete works for voice and piano, a key repertoire among the Spanish music from all periods.

It is hoped that this long-awaited new edition will be as successful as the previous one, published over ten years ago. It continues the line initiated with the publication of another important set of complete works for voice and piano, the songs of Enrique Granados.

In this edition particular mention should be made of the inclusion of the translations of the original lyrics to English, Catalan and Spanish, and also the phonetic transcription made by Oriol Gil Sanchís. The introductory study has also been reviewed, enlarged and updated by its author, Jacinto Torres, one of the foremost experts on this composer.

The publication includes five poems by Becquer for recital with piano accompaniment, along with later versions by Albéniz for singer and piano. It also includes six salon romances in Italian, four songs on French poems with modernist and symbolist aesthetics, and most important of all, the set of the sixteen songs based on poems by his English patron Francis B. Money-Coutts.

Albéniz’s piano music has often overshadowed the rest of his musical output. Among his songs and lieder there are very different pieces, ranging from salon romances to French impressionist songs and recited works with piano accompaniment. This compilation of works – some of them hitherto unpublished – provides a novel overview of this composer.

For further information about this issue…

(Castellano) Homenajes al Centenario Albéniz

Posted by Redacción on July 13, 2009  |  Leave a comment

Gianandrea Noseda conducts Albéniz and Granados

Posted by Leticia Martin on April 24, 2009  |  Leave a comment

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.

Tritó pays tribute to the most famous

Posted by Marcel Soleda on November 27, 2008  |  Leave a comment

With the figure of the composer Xavier Montsalvatge we are launching a series of biographies of some of the most famous Spanish composers of all time, which will be published periodically in this blog.

Xavier Montsalvatge is the first because he is the publisher’s principal composer and almost the totality of his work has been published by Tritó. Montsalvatge will be followed by Isaac Albéniz in view of his evident importance on the Spanish music scene together with Enrique Granados.

You can access the series by clicking on Biographies.

Jesús Guridi and Isaac Albéniz at the Cadiz Festival

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

The 2008 Spanish Music Festival of Cadiz, organized by the Government of Andalusia, which runs 20-30 November, features a range of works from the Tritó catalogue.

On Saturday, 22 November, the Basque National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Pablo Gonzalez, winner of the 2006 Cadaqués Orchestra Conducting Competition, presents Jesús Guridi’s monumental Sinfonía Pirinenca. This work, which premiered in 1946, is one of the best examples of the Basque composer’s oeuvre, with three contrasting movements, from passages of great melodic beauty to others of stunning rhythmic richness, and including influences from folk music and French impressionism.

On 29 November, the Granada City Orchestra conducted by JF Haisser performs three of Jesús Rueda’s orchestrations of Isaac Albéniz’s Suite Iberia: Triana, Lavapiés and Evocación. The Madrid composer’s particular tribute to one of the great piano works of all times retains all the freshness and immediacy of the original rendered in orchestral form. The Granada City Orchestra performs the same programme on 30 November as part of the orchestra’s regular concert season.