SKU: BO.B.3640
On December 26, 2009, during the concert of Sant Esteve in the auditorium Enric Granados of Lleida, organized by the sardanist section of CE Huracans, the Bellpuig cobla premiered the version for cobla of the Sardana (to Ernest Schelling) of Spanish Dances No. 2, op 37 for piano by Enrique Granados.Concepcio Ramio made the arrangement.
SKU: HL.14013148
UPC: 884088435080. 9.0x12.0x0.073 inches.
Granados' guitar piece 'Sardana' transcribed for the guitar by Jose de Azpiazu.
SKU: BO.B.3260
ISBN 9788480207584.
English comments: Empuries is the result of the interest Ruera showed throughout his life for the culture and music of ancient Greece. As he himself writes in the introduction to the composition: The motives behind this work were inspired by contemplating and analysing the melos of ancient Greece. The few melodies that have been discovered from those far-off times inspired the composer of Empuries to create this work, conceived with the Greek modal system in mind, and adapted to modern instruments and tastes. The tetrachord and pentachords of these forms are the very bases of this work. The descending drift of the cadence, the harmonic priority of the upper and lower notes of the tetrachords and the displacement of these chords to different acoustic levels, make it impossible to specify the classic concept of a set tonality which, within the improvised musical working of the piece, leads to a naturally intertonal or atonal piece of music. Empuries came to light in 1971, when it won group A of the Ciutat de Barcelona prize. But one must, in fact, go back to the 1930s to find its true origins. Ruera made his first foray into the theme of ancient Greece with the sardana, Empuries, la grega, with which he won first prize in the Jocs Florals in Girona, in 1931. Shortly afterwards, he wrote a piece of organ music entitled Bucolics, in the Greek modal style, which was destroyed during the Spanish civil war. Ruera continued to work on the theme and in 1936 he presented his work Tres moviments simfonics, for a big band, inspired by the ancient Greek modes, at the XIV International Festival of the ISCM held in Barcelona. The work was chosen to debut in the festival's opening concert on 19 April 1936 at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Barcelona. In 1959, Ruera won the Pau Casals Prize at the Jocs Florals de la Llengua Catalana, held at the Sorbonne in Paris, for his work, Empuries: poema per a cobla i orquestra, which would later become the fourth movement of Empuries. Nine years later, in 1968, Barcelona City Orchestra, conducted by Antoni Ros Marba, gave the first ever performance of the symphonic poem Pastoral, written to be the first movement of Empuries, in Granollers. The final step was when he finally completed the work, won the Ciutat de Barcelona prize, opened in Granollers on 2 May 1976 and recorded it for the Columbia de Barcelona label in 1977. Anna Maria PieraComentarios del Espanol:La obra Empuries es fruto del interes que el maestro Ruera demostro a lo largo de su vida por la cultura y la musica de la antigua Grecia. Como el mismo escribe en la cabecera de la composicion: Los motivos generadores de esta obra estan inspirados en la contemplacion y en el analisis del melos de la antigua Grecia. Las pocas melodias que hasta el momento se han podido descubrir de aquellos tiempos remotos sugieren al autor de Empuries la realizacion de esta obra, concebida pensando en el sistema modal griego, adaptado a los instrumentos y gustos modernos. Los tetracordes y pentacordes de dichas modalidades son las celulas en las que se basa la obra. El sentido descendiente de la cadencia, la prioridad armonica de la notas extremas de los tetracordes y el desplazamiento de estos acordes a varias alturas acusticas, hacen que no sea posible precisar el clasico concepto de una tonalidad determinada y que lleven, dentro del funcionamiento contrapuntistico, a una musica naturalmente intertonal o atonal. Empuries vio la luz en el ano 1971, ganando el Premio Ciutat de Barcelona, grupo A, pero en realidad tenemos que retroceder hasta los anos 30 para encontrar sus verdaderos origenes. La primera incursion en el tema de la antigua Gracia la hizo con la sardana Empuries, la grega, con la que gano el primer premio en los Jocs Florals de Gerona del ano 1931. Poco despues escribio una pieza para organo titulada Bucolics, en el estilo modal griego, que fue destruida durante la Guerra Civil espanola. Ruera continuo trabajando en el tema y en el ano 1936 presento su obra Tres moviments simfonics, en version para gran banda, inspirada en las antiguas modalidades griegas, en el XIV Festival Internacional de la SIMC que se celebro en Barcelona. La obra fue escogida para ser estrenada en el concierto inaugural de dicho festival, el 19 de abril de 1936, en el Palacio de Bellas Artes de Barcelona. En el 1959, Ruera gano el Premio Pau Casals en los Jocs Florals de la Llengua Catalana celebrados en la Sorbona de Paris con la obra Empuries: poema per a cobla i orquestra, que sera con el paso del tiempo el cuarto movimiento de Empuries. Nueve anos mas tarde, en 1968, la Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona, bajo la direccion de Antoni Ros Marba, interpreto en Granollers la primera audicion del poema sinfonico Pastoral, pensado como primer movimiento de Empuries. El ultimo eslabon fue terminar definitivamente la obra, ganar el Premio Ciutat de Barcelona, estrenarla en Granollers el 2 de mayo de 1976 y grabarla para la casa discografica Columbia de Barcelona, en 1977.
SKU: BT.EMBZ20017A
English-German-Hungarian.
In 1845 Franz Liszt embarked on a project to compose an Italian opera based on Lord Byron’s tragedy, Sardanapalus (1821). It was central to his ambition to attain status as a major European composer, with premieres variously planned for Milan, Vienna, Paris and London. But he abandoned it half way through, and the music he completed has lain silently for 170 years. Liszt’s difficulty in obtaining a libretto meant that composition only began in April 1850. He completed virtually all the music for Act 1 in an annotated piano-vocal score of 111 pages, contained within his N4 music ‘sketch book’. The unnamed librettist was an Italian poet and political prisoner, seemingly living under house arrest, and a close acquaintance of Cristina Belgiojoso. His libretto survives as underlay in the N4 sketchbook and has been critically reconstructed and translated. Sardanapalo is Liszt’s only mature opera. While he consistently referred to it in French, as Sardanapale, the published title of the Italian opera would almost certainly have used the Italian name, hence this forms the title of the first edition. There are three solo roles and a chorus of concubines. The manuscript was previously thought to be fragmentary and partially illegible, but it was finally deciphered to international acclaim in March 2017. Liszt’s score offers a richly melodic style, with elements from Bellini and Verdi alongside glimmers of Wagner and the symphonic poems ahead: a unique mixture of Italianate pastiche and mid-century harmonic innovation. It remains quintessentially Lisztian. The opera sets Byron’s tragedy about war and peace in ancient Assyria: the last King, effeminate in his tastes, is drawn to wine, concubines and feasts more than politics and war: his subjects find him dishonourable (a ‘man queen’) and military rebels seek to overthrow him, but are pardoned, for the King rejects the ‘deceit of glory’ built on others’ suffering: this leads only to a larger uprising, the Euphrates floods its banks, destroying the castle’s main defensive wall, and defeat is inevitable: the King sends his family away and orders that he be burned alive with his lover, amid scents and spices in a grand inferno. As Byron put it: ‘not a mere pillar formed of cloud and flame, but a light to lessen ages.’ For his part, Liszt told a friend that his finale ‘will even aim to set fire to the entire audience!’ This critical edition includes a detailed study on the genesis of Liszt’s Sardanapalo in English, German, and Hungarian, the libretto in the original Italian as well as in English, German, and Hungarian translation, several facsimile pages of Liszt’s manuscript, and a detailed Critical Report.
SKU: PR.510079290
UPC: 680160680399.
Determined to be seen as a complete composer, Liszt set out to create a full-fledged opera, only to later abandon the project. 170 years later, an examination of the manuscript revealed a virtually complete Act One in piano/vocal score form, and Sardanapalo finally came to life. This critical edition includes a detailed study on the genesis of Liszt's Sardanapalo in English, German, and Hungarian, the libretto in the original Italian as well as in English, German, and Hungarian translation, several facsimile pages of Liszt's manuscript, and a detailed Critical Report. (--E.M.B.).
SKU: BO.B.3667
The song cycle Cancons dels mesos [Songs of the months] was written in 1919 to a set of poems by Apel·les Mestres (1854-1936). There is one song for each month and the poems seem to look at the months and seasons as seen from the Catalan Mediterranean where the wine harvest and the fields near the sea are so typical. Mestres was a writer, drawer and musician; as a writer he cultivated poetry, theatre and prose, which he often mixed in his work. Most of his lyric and dramatic work is set music by composers like Enric Granados, Amadeu Vives, Enric Morera. His use of the Catalan language was important in the renaissance of the Catalan culture so in style at the time.The songs of this cycle, are influenced by the Mediterranean sea, the coast of Cataluna and the general vocal tendencies in Europe around the turn of the century, mostly from the German school of Wagner and Strauss. In general there is little folk influence in the songs, but in two occasions there is a reference to the Catalan songs, Desembre congelat, and a direct use in one of the songs of the rhythm of the Sardana a typical Catalan dance.
SKU: BT.MUSUMP92190
SKU: BO.B.2768
SKU: BO.B.1745
SKU: BO.B.1805
SKU: BO.B.3066
SKU: HL.14035143
SKU: AY.BRE3474PM
ISBN 9790543575561.
SKU: BO.B.3065
SKU: BO.B.3698
SKU: BO.B.0693
SKU: BT.MUSUMP21723
SKU: BT.MUSUMP20046
SKU: AY.BRE3161PM
ISBN 9790543575509.
Sardana.
SKU: HL.14035136
SKU: NR.108045
SKU: BT.DMP9932
SKU: BO.B.0655