By Steve Hodges. Music by Steve Hodges. For Concert Band. Concert Band. Challenger Band Series. Conductor Score & Parts. 1 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing.

Orequesta sinfonica, Orquesta camara, voces y coro (Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Solo Voices and Choir)

SKU: BO.B.3472

A la memoria de Salvador Espriu. Composed by Xavier Benguerel. Vocal Music. Choir. Duration 85:00. Published by Editorial de Musica Boileau (BO.B.3472).

ISBN 9788480208130.

Engl ish comments: The Requiem in memory of Salvador Espriu by Xavier Benguerel was commissioned by the Torroella de Montgri International Music Festival for a double commemoration: on the one hand, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Festival, and on the other, in remembrance of Catalan poet Salvador Espriu in the fifth year after his death. This concert, which was held on 5 October, was a brilliant closing gala performance and it was repeated twice on 6 and 7 October at the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona. It was performed by the Orchestra and Choir of the Gran Teatro del Liceo, with soloists Enriqueta Tarres, soprano; Nelibel Martinez, mezzo soprano; Eduard Gimenez, tenor; and Carlos Chausson, baritone, with the additional collaboration of baritone Lluis Llach, conducted by Romano Gandolfi.

In my opinion, this work by Benguerel is a piece that was written with passion and sincerity, with great strength and depth, and it contains some very beautiful passages. It is written in a language through which, without abandoning his current musical thoughts, Benguerel manages to communicate with the audience in a dense work that lasts for an hour and a half. It is interspersed with seven poems by Espriu on the subject of death, some sung and others recited, which gives the Requiem great contrasts from a musical and linguistic point of view -in comparison with the Latin texts normally used in a requiem mass-, but within a successful and coherent unity. The performers certainly proved their worth, but much of the hard work that went into preparing the piece can be attributed not only to the performers, the composer and the poet in tribute to whom the work was written, but also to the conductor Romano Gandolfi, who is largely responsible for the success of the three performances of this Requiem. Benguerel himself says of the work: This Requiem is linked to my previous work, the Llibre Vermell, and it has been written without making any concessions, but with a true wish to communicate with the audience. I've got past the stage of musical experiments and I'm now working on bridging the gap between composer and audience, which I'm sure will be good for both.
--Comments written by Jordi Codina in the December 1990 issue of Nexus magazine

Comentario s del Espanol: El Requiem a la memoria de Salvador Espriu de Xavier Benguerel ha sido compuesto por encargo del Festival Internacional de Musica de Torroella de Montgri para una doble conmemoracion: por una parte, el decimo aniversario del Festival; por otra, el recuerdo de la figura del poeta catalan Salvador Espriu en el quinto ano de su fallecimiento. Este concierto, celebrado el dia 5 de octubre, constituyo una sesion de gala y de clausura brillante y tuvo una doble repeticion los dias 6 y 7en el Palau de la Musica Catalana de Barcelona. Fueron sus interpretes la Orquesta y el Coro del Gran Teatro del Liceo, con los solistas vocales Enriqueta Tarres, soprano; Nelibel Martinez, mezzo; Eduard Gimenez, tenor; y Carlos Chausson, baritono, con la colaboracion del tambien baritono Lluis Llach. Todos bajo la direccion de Romano Gandolfi.

A mi entender, la obra de Benguerel es una partitura escrita con pasion y sinceridad, posee una gran solidez, es profunda y contiene pasajes de una gran belleza. Esta escrita en un lenguaje con el que Benguerel, sin renunciar a su actual pensamiento musical, alcanza la comunicacion con el publico en una obra densa que dura una hora y media. La intercalacion de siete poemas de Espriu relacionados con el tema de la muerte, en una interpretacion cantada o recitada, segun los casos, otorga al Requiem grandes contrastes desde un punto de vista musical y lingŸistico Ð en contraposicion con los textos latinos propios de una misa de requiem Ð, pero dentro de una unidad conseguida y coherente. La labor de los interpretes demostro su categoria y el trabajo exhaustivo en la preparacion de la obra, que, ademas de los interpretes, el compositor y el poeta homenajeado, tuvo otro gran protagonista en la persona del director Romano Gandolfi, a quien se debe una gran parte del exito obtenido en las tres audiciones de este Requiem. El propio Benguerel ha dicho de la obra: Este Requiem entronca con mi obra anterior, el Llibre Vermell, y ha sido escrito sin concesiones, pero con una voluntad real de comunicacion con el publico. La epoca de los experimentos musicales ya se me paso y he entrado en una nueva etapa de acercamiento entre el compositor y el publico que, estoy convencido, beneficiara a ambos.
--Comentario escrito por Jordi Codina en la revista Nexus en diciembre de 1990

Guitarra (Guitar) y Piano

SKU: BO.B.3106

Composed by Jordi Cervello. Plucked Instruments. Duration 21:00. Published by Editorial de Musica Boileau (BO.B.3106).

ISBN 9788480201940.

Engl ish comments:
With reference to the melody used to write the Fanstasia-Concerto, the composer Jordi Cervello says: A few years ago, a friend of mine, Jorge Wagensberg sang me a beautiful old Jewish melody inspired by the hymn Leja Dodi (Come, my beloved) by the Sefardie cabbalist Solomon Alkabez (1505-1576), who is buried in Israel. I was immediately entranced by its two extensive thematic ideas which complement each other perfectly. Its melodic and folk qualities seemed to me to make it an ideal theme for a work for guitar and orchestra. The orchestration is a fine thread of metallic timbres, which are present both in the very delicate subtleties of the pianissimi passages and the brilliant tutti. Moreover, the cler tonal definition of the melody contrasts with audacious harmonic contrapunctual textures, characteristic of the most advanced musical styles of our times. The solo guitar part is a model piece of compositon for the guitar, both for its melody and harmony. It puts forward extremely original formulas which are very effective from an instrumental point of view. Its abundant use of arpeggios, chords, harmonic pedals and other instrumental resources ensure that the dialogue with the orchestra is based completely on guitar-playing techniques, putting the guitarist's expressive skill and mastery to the test. This work was first performed on December 3 1997 in Sabadell's La Farandula Theatre performed by the Valles Symphonic Orchestra conducted by its permanent conductor Salvador Brotons. The guitar solo part was played by Jaume Torrent, to whom the work is dedicated.

Comen tarios del Espanol:
En relacion al origen de la melodia utilizada en este Concierto-Fantasia, el compositor Jordi Cervello comenta: Hace ya algunos anos, mi amigo Jorge Wagensberg me canto una antigua y deliciosa melodia judia compuesta sobre el himno Leja Dodi (Ven mi bien amada) del cabalista sefardi Solomon Alkabez (1505-1576), cuya tumba se encuentra en Israel. En seguida me cautivo por las dos amplias ideas tematicas que contiene, las cuales se complementan muy armoniosamente. Por sus caracteristicas melodicas y por su caracter popular me parecio un tema ideal para una obra de guitarra y orquesta. La orquestacion de este concierto es una filigrana de sugerencias timbricas, presentes tanto en las mas delicadas sutilezas de los pianissimi como en los efusivos tutti. Asimismo, la clara definicion tonal de la melodia contrasta con audaces texturas armonicas y contrapuntisticas propias de la estetica musical de nuestros dias. La parte del instrumento solista en un modelo de escritura guitarristica, tanto desde el punto de vista melodico como del armonico y propone formulas que resultan de una gran originalidad y eficacia instrumental. La prodigalidad de arpegios, acordes, pedales armonicos y otros recursos instrumentales, garantizan un dialogo con la orquesta desde un lenguaje plenamente guitarristico, a traves del cual, el interprete pone a prueba tanto su capacidad expresiva como la vituosistica. El estreno de esta obra tuvo lugar el dia 3 de octubre de 1997 en el Teatro La Farandula de Sabadell, interpretada por la Orquesta Sinfonica del Valles bajo la direccion de su director titular Salvador Brotons, y actuando como solista el guitarrista Jaume Torrent a quien esta dedicada la obra.

Guitar and orchestra

SKU: BO.B.3105

Composed by Jordi Cervello. Plucked Instruments. Duration 21:00. Published by Editorial de Musica Boileau (BO.B.3105).

ISBN 9788480202350.

Engl ish comments:
With reference to the melody used to write the Fanstasia-Concerto, the composer Jordi Cervello says: A few years ago, a friend of mine, Jorge Wagensberg sang me a beautiful old Jewish melody inspired by the hymn Leja Dodi (Come, my beloved) by the Sefardie cabbalist Solomon Alkabez (1505-1576), who is buried in Israel. I was immediately entranced by its two extensive thematic ideas which complement each other perfectly. Its melodic and folk qualities seemed to me to make it an ideal theme for a work for guitar and orchestra. The orchestration is a fine thread of metallic timbres, which are present both in the very delicate subtleties of the pianissimi passages and the brilliant tutti. Moreover, the cler tonal definition of the melody contrasts with audacious harmonic contrapunctual textures, characteristic of the most advanced musical styles of our times. The solo guitar part is a model piece of compositon for the guitar, both for its melody and harmony. It puts forward extremely original formulas which are very effective from an instrumental point of view. Its abundant use of arpeggios, chords, harmonic pedals and other instrumental resources ensure that the dialogue with the orchestra is based completely on guitar-playing techniques, putting the guitarist's expressive skill and mastery to the test. This work was first performed on December 3 1997 in Sabadell's La Farandula Theatre performed by the Valles Symphonic Orchestra conducted by its permanent conductor Salvador Brotons. The guitar solo part was played by Jaume Torrent, to whom the work is dedicated.

Comen tarios del Espanol:
En relacion al origen de la melodia utilizada en este Concierto-Fantasia, el compositor Jordi Cervello comenta: Hace ya algunos anos, mi amigo Jorge Wagensberg me canto una antigua y deliciosa melodia judia compuesta sobre el himno Leja Dodi (Ven mi bien amada) del cabalista sefardi Solomon Alkabez (1505-1576), cuya tumba se encuentra en Israel. En seguida me cautivo por las dos amplias ideas tematicas que contiene, las cuales se complementan muy armoniosamente. Por sus caracteristicas melodicas y por su caracter popular me parecio un tema ideal para una obra de guitarra y orquesta. La orquestacion de este concierto es una filigrana de sugerencias timbricas, presentes tanto en las mas delicadas sutilezas de los pianissimi como en los efusivos tutti. Asimismo, la clara definicion tonal de la melodia contrasta con audaces texturas armonicas y contrapuntisticas propias de la estetica musical de nuestros dias. La parte del instrumento solista en un modelo de escritura guitarristica, tanto desde el punto de vista melodico como del armonico y propone formulas que resultan de una gran originalidad y eficacia instrumental. La prodigalidad de arpegios, acordes, pedales armonicos y otros recursos instrumentales, garantizan un dialogo con la orquesta desde un lenguaje plenamente guitarristico, a traves del cual, el interprete pone a prueba tanto su capacidad expresiva como la vituosistica. El estreno de esta obra tuvo lugar el dia 3 de octubre de 1997 en el Teatro La Farandula de Sabadell, interpretada por la Orquesta Sinfonica del Valles bajo la direccion de su director titular Salvador Brotons, y actuando como solista el guitarrista Jaume Torrent a quien esta dedicada la obra.

Clave, Comping, and Soloing. Berklee Guide. Instruction, Jazz, Latin. Softcover Audio Online. 136 pages. Published by Berklee Press