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Xavier Montsalvatge: Works for Orchestra / Marta Matheu, soprano
Posted by Paul Ballyk on Oct 3, 2014 in Contemporary | 0 comments
A quick query shows that the music of Xavier Montsalvatge is best represented on the Naxos label. Recordings prior to this release include some of the Catalan composer's piano music and chamber works. Performed by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Victor Pablo Pérez, this release is Naxos' first of Montsalvatge's orchestral oeuvre and it provides an excellent overview with compositions coming from three distinct periods of his career. Concluding the album is arguably his most important work, the twenty-minute Simfonía de Rèquiem (1985) with soprano soloist Marta Matheu's lovely singing gracing the final three minutes of the work.
Born in Girona, Spain, Xavier Montsalvatge (1912-2002) was a major figure in the music scene of 20th century Barcelona. His music gained considerable attention around the world, to a large extent because it was championed by many of Spain's most prominent performers, including Victoria de los Angeles, Alicia de Larrocha, Montserrat Caballé and Pablo Casals.
Montsalvatge worked in many different forms, from solo piano, chamber music and art songs to ballets, operas, film music and orchestral works. Although he openly rejected the legacies of Richard Strauss and Wagner, whose music greatly influenced art music in Spain at the time, these two composers did impact his writing. More important, however, was a French influence and the music of Ravel, Messiaen, Roussel and Les Six - Auric, Durey Honegger, Milhaud, Poulenc and Tailleferre. There's also an exoticism to much of this music that might, for example, meld Far Eastern sonorities with Catalan folk music, Antillean rhythms and French Impressionism. The composer writes, "In the contrast between consonance and dissonance, and between tonality and atonality, I look for an element that will light up my music."
The samples from the album available in the right sidebar are both from Simfonía de Rèquiem, and highlight the more serious side of his work; the other two thirds of the album are given to lighter fare, including the ballet score to Manfred and his final orchestral work, Bric à Brac. The performances by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, who have known this music since it was written, are superb, and Naxos contributes finely engineered sound.
Xavier Montsalvatge’s music enriched Catalan culture throughout the second half of the twentieth century, and he remained one of Spain’s leading composers. This overview of his orchestral music begins with excerpts from his ballet Manfred, which reveal the important influence of Stravinsky. The ingenious Bric à brac is his last orchestral work, written when he was eighty-one and premièred by the forces who perform it on this recording. The mainly orchestral Simfonia de Rèquiem is one of Montsalvatge’s most important and well-known works.
Source: Naxos
| Xavier Montsalvatge |
Xavier Montsalvatge, composer Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols (1912 – 2002) was a Spanish composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century. Born in the northeastern Catalan city of Girona, Montsalvatge studied violin and composition at the Barcelona Conservatory under Lluís Maria Millet, Enric Morera, Jaume Pahissa, and Eduard Toldrà. After the Spanish Civil War, Montsalvatge began work as a music critic when he joined the newspaper Destino in 1942, a publication he would eventually direct in 1968 and 1975. He wrote additionally for the daily La Vanguardia after 1962. The composer also returned to teach at his alma mater, becoming a lecturer in 1970, and then a professor of composition in 1978. Montsalvatge’s body of work reflects a wide variety of influences and a striking stylistic evolution, from an early fascination with dramatic Wagnerian gestures and the twelve-tone techniques of the Second Viennese School, to later excursions into Caribbean-influenced exoticism and Parisian poly-tonality. Montsalvatge explored virtually all musical forms in his composition. His work ranges in scale from operas (El gato con botas, Una voz en off) to chamber music (Cuarteto indiano), in between which lie his orchestral works, such as the Desintegración morfológica de la Chacona de Bach, the Laberinto o Sinfonía de réquiem, and the prizewinning Sinfonía mediterránea. He owed his international fame chiefly to one charming and outstanding work: the Cinco canciones negras for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, a blend of Antillean rhythms and themes. He also wrote film music and in 1987, his score for the picture Dragon Rapide, about Francisco Franco, was nominated as the best original music at the Goya Awards. He was awarded Spain’s Premio Nacional de Música for composition in 1985. He died in Barcelona, aged 90. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Montsalvatge
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 Marta Matheu |
Marta Matheu, soprano A native of the Catalan city of Tarragona, Spanish soprano Marta Matheu leads a distinguished career as one of Spain’s most heralded vocal talents, in demand for chamber work as well as in opera settings. Successful undergraduate studies in voice, piano and organ at her native city’s university led her to the Conservatory of Valencia, where she received instruction from such renowned vocal artists as Montserrat Caballé, Ana María Sánchez, Carmen Bustamante, Robert Expert, Miguel Zanetti and Wolfram Rieger, among others. Her concert activities have included appearances in major Spanish and international concert halls with eminent conductors such as Fabio Biondi, Adrian Leaper, Víctor Pablo Pérez, Neville Marriner, and Ivor Bolton, as well as chamber music collaborations with important artists such as Roger Vignoles, Albert Guinovart, Hiro Hurosaki, Francisco Poyato, and Trío Arriaga. Translation J. Gram |
 Víctor Pablo Pérez |
Víctor Pablo Pérez, conductor Víctor Pablo Pérez (Burgos, 1954) is a Spanish conductor known for specializing in zarzuelas. An alumnus of the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Madrid and the Munich University for Music and Theater (Hochschule für Musik München), he was principal conductor and artistic director of the Symphony Orchestra of Asturias from 1980-1988, and then of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. He makes frequent appearances at the Royal Theater of Madrid, the Grand Liceu Theater of Barcelona, The Mozart Festival of La Coruña, The Rossini Opera Festival, and The Schleswig-Holstein International Music Festival, and is currently the artistic director of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Community of Madrid (ORCAM). http://www.victorpabloperez.net/biografia.html Translation J. Gram |
 Barcelona Symphony Orchestra |
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra
The Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (Catalan: Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya) is a symphony orchestra based in Barcelona, Spain. Since April 1999, the Orchestra has had its headquarters at L’Auditori. Prior to that, from its foundation in 1944 until 1998, the orchestra was resident at the Palau de la Música Catalana. The current music director of the OBC is Pablo González Bernardo, since the 2010-2011 season. He is scheduled to conclude his OBC tenure at the end of the 2014-2015 season. In January 2014, the OBC announced the appointment of Kazushi Ono as its next music director, effective September 2015, with an initial contract of 3 years. The current principal guest conductors of the orchestra are Franz-Paul Decker and Ernest Martínez Izquierdo. The OBC has made recordings for such labels as Decca, EMI, Auvidis, Koch, Claves and Naxos Records. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona_Symphony_and_Catalonia_National_Orchestra
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Xavier Montsalvatge: Highlight from Simfonía de Rèquiem