Event

program:

ISAAC ALBÉNIZ
Rondeña (Suite Iberia)

ENRIQUE GRANADOS
Requiebros (Suite Goyescas)

JOAQUÍN TURINA
Danzas Gitanas

MANUEL DE FALLA
Cuatro piezas españolas
-Aragonesa
-Cubana
-Montañesa (paisaje)
-Andaluza

Danza Ritual del Fuego
Fantasy Beatica

From Isaac Albéniz to Manuel de Falla, Spanish music found its true form in the XX century, at a time when it found itself in an impasse, split between the increasing favour gained by popular forms of expression, which were being produced at a staggering pace through the zarzuelas, the received tradition of the Spanish guitar, which had been well instilled in the popular culture by this time, and the international dominance of the music; while the emergence of nationalistic themes throughout the second half of the XVIII and all of the XIX century resulted in the formulation of a different tone, as it were, for German, French and Italian music above all, in Spain the national flavour steered differently.

Nevertheless, there was still a substantial output of instrumental music, closely linked or influenced by the European tradition during the first half of the XX century. Such production was especially punctuated by the presence of three outstanding personalities, whose footprint in Spanish music has become not only important, but rather indelible. The first of these characters is Joaquín Turina. Born in Sevilla in 1882, he was deeply influenced through his family heritage by Italian culture, and as a young man he moved to Paris, where he completed his education in composition and the piano. With the break of World War I, Turina went back to the relative safety of his homeland, where he would contribute to extend the orchestral tradition. His music remained throughout closely linked to the Andalusian landscape of his childhood, anchored in the impressionistic technique prevalent in Paris at the time of his exile and patently present in the work of Maurice Ravel or Claude Debussy, both of them acquaintances of his.

The second personality in question is Manuel de Falla. A contemporary of Turnia’s, the careers of the two composers followed similar paths in their early days, as they both left Spain for Paris in the early days of the XX century and both were forced to return with the break of The Great War. While Manuel de Falla’s professional life goes through so many stages and is so extensive that it is difficult to identify which, exactly, was his most proficient time, it remains certain that his days in Paris marked his early stages and led him to produce some of his most affecting work. But once Manuel de Falla finds himself back in Spain, the impact of folklore and nationalism begins to give way in his work, in favour of a more traditional melody, which is still enriched by the Spanish sound, as it were. Following the end of the Spanish Civil War, Manuel de Falla was forced to emigrate once again, this time to Argentina, where he would live until his death in 1946.

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