Turina, Falla, Debussy and Strauss
The concert began with Joaquín Turina, one of the Spaniards who shared time, at the beginning of the century, and space, a Paris where the new world of the arts was crushing.
PalmThere were many notable and relevant moments in the opening concert of the season of the Illes Balears Symphony Orchestra, but, to begin with, I would like to highlight what corresponds to Prelude to the après-midi of a faun, of Claude Debussy. The first piece played in the second half and of which Pierre Boulez said that "The flute of Faun by Debussy breathed new life into the art of music." Josep Miralles, the group's solo flute, was in charge of showing off his best attributes in the interpretation of these supernatural moments, which suggest the sensual evocations of the main faun. somos, Mielgo and the Symphony Orchestra displayed this primordial moment that the group is experiencing, and the Frenchman's piece, which at the time marked a revolution, was a good thermometer to confirm it. There are many instruments that, at one time or another, become protagonists in this translation of the poem, soloist, the oboe, of course, and even the antique cymbals, to achieve a chromatic universe that, moreover, is unlike any other composition by one of the great avant-garde artists in the history of music. crushed the new world of the arts, with one of the capparas of musical impressionism. The bullfighter's prayer It is a small but no small work, with all the ingredients of Spanish music and the impressionist envelope that had so unnerved him. Originally conceived for four llaüts, which is difficult to imagine how they might have sounded, it was later converted to a string quartet and finally to the version that began the evening, for string orchestra. From one of his companions in Parisian musical adventures, Manuel de Falla, who drew from the same sources, Davide Cabassi on piano played the three Nights in the Gardens of Spain, the one of the Generalife, the Distant Dance and those of The mountains of Córdoba, where we can find the most obvious references in Debussy and Ravel,Perfumes of the Night of the first and the Prelude to Night of the second. Intense, tempered and meticulous, was the soloist's interpretation, with these masterful dialogues with the orchestra, creating textures of sublime richness and ending with a finale of a fineness extraordinary, with the "extinguished sound", as the score notes.
The concert could have ended here and we would all have been quite satisfied, but the fourth piece was still missing, contemporary with the previous three, but German, with all that this musically implies. Richard Strauss was the icing on the cake of a magical afternoon with the orchestra performing the overwhelming and vigorous symphonic poem, Don Juan Op. 20 in E minor. A very original composition, for a large orchestra, which was not the case, with an impetuous melody, although the influences of Richard Wagner are not absent, as for example in the evocative sehr energisch of the horns. In any case, a start to the season that prepares for everything that comes next.
