Our conductors (IV). Sir Neville Marriner

Posted by Cristina Martí on August 17, 2011  |  Leave a comment

In this fourth entry we continue our overview of the conductors who have recorded with Tritó. On this occasion, we call to mind Sir Neville Marriner, who has been principal guest conductor of the Cadaqués Orchestra since 1992.

Sir Neville Marriner studied violin at the Royal College of Music in London and the Paris Conservatoire. In 1949 he joined the Martin String Quartet and founded the Jacobean Ensemble with Thurston Dart and the Virtuoso String Trio, and worked with legendary directors such as Toscanini, Furtwängler, Cantelli and Karajan.

In 1959 he founded the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, where he was concertmaster and later chief conductor. He has also conducted the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He has been decorated twice for his work on behalf of music: he received a CBE in 1979 and was knighted in 1985. In addition, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields with Sir Neville Marriner has received the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement in recognition of their accomplishments as concert performers.

Sir Neville Marriner’s most prolific period in terms of recordings with the Cadaques Orchestra and Tritó was when he was chief conductor, releasing albums with works by Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, with the voice of Ainhoa Arteta, such as the Obertura de los esclavos felices, works by Fauré and Gounod, and a CD with three fantastic compositions by Stravinski, Montsalvatge and Prokofiev (Pulcinella Suite, Sortilegis and the Classical Symphony respectively). In addition, he has recorded Pulcinella in its full version in a concert for which David Nel·lo wrote and narrated a tale of imagination set in the city of Tifna, with princesses, good and bad characters, and elephants.

Sir Neville Marriner has conducted works by Mozart with the Cadaqués Orchestra on numerous occasions, resulting in three albums: the Sinfonias concertantes, a double CD with four concertos, for flute (K.313), for oboe (K.314), for clarinet (K.622) and for bassoon (K.191, and, lastly, the Concertos 1 and 2 for flute and the Concerto for flute and harp on a CD which has just been re-released with a more modern design. On this latter album, the solo flutist is Jaime Martín, currently chief conductor of the Cadaqués Orchestra, and the harpist is Bryn Lewis. In the case of another great composer, Beethoven, Sir Neville Marriner has recorded his Symphonies 1,2,5 and 6 with Tritó on two fantastic CDs.

Last but not least, the three Sinfonias Concertantes by Danzi, Fernando Sor’s Overtures and Symphonies and the works of the contemporary composer Joan Guinjoan, Sincrotó and Alba, are the three other recordings that the period when the Cadaqués Orchestra performed under the baton of the brilliant English conductor has left for posterity.

Ainhoa Arteta and Sir Neville Marriner perform Arriaga

Posted by Redacción on January 28, 2008  |  2 Comments

The figure of Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (1806-1826) has gained renewed recognition in recent years thanks to the celebration of the bicentennial of his birth. This new recording from Tritó catalogue, provides a view of different stages of his brief but very prolific and interesting career as a composer, including pieces never before recorded. Among them we find Arriaga’s first and last symphonic works, both in the characteristic overture form of the period: Overture in F major, “Nonetto”, op. 1 and Overture in D major, op. 20. The CD also includes one of the best known works by Arriaga, Symphony in D minor, composed when he was fourteen years old and already residing in Paris, and a piece that did much to establish the composer’s reputation.

Rounding out the CD is Herminie Cantata for soprano and orchestra, which despite the title is a one-person dramatic scene, with lyrics taken from Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata. The enthralling Ainhoa Arteta provides the voice.

The union of two great names in classical music – the conductor Sir Neville Marriner and Ainhoa Arteta, one of the most celebrated sopranos of our day – with the Cadaqués Orchestra, recorded live at the Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastián during the 2006 Quincena Musical Donostiarra, make this CD essential listening for anyone interested in (discovering) Arriaga.