Escenas contemporáneas: the works
By Nemesio García-Carril Puy
Next, we enter two works that have a common stylistic
imprint: the Roman School tradition in which Valentí Miserachs –with a more
post-impressionistic puccinian influence– and Nemesio García Carril –with a
more austere and sober tendency– were educated. However, this roman style is
manifested in both works in a perfect symbiosis with the character of the
traditional folk music of the regions
of origin of their composers: Cataluña and Galicia, respectively.
Maternal,
fantasia i fuga is
intended by his author, Valentí Miserachs, to be a tribute to Sant Martí
Sesgueioles. This is village where he was born and raised in his childhood, and that has subsequently meant for him a place of refuge
and spiritual "sanatorium" throughout his life, as if the host in the
arms of a mother is involved. Originally thought for cobla catalana and orchestra, the version for brass quintet and
orchestra made by Luca Petrongari –and supervised by Valentí Miserachs– at the
request of Proemium Metals favors the
integration and the dialogue of the quintet with the orchestra in a widely
variety of orchestral colors. Structured in two big sections –fantasy and
fugue–, the work is carried up by the theme of “La Dida”, a folk melody that
appears in a preponderant way throughout the piece. Based on a general sonority
of the Doric mode over different tones, the fantasy begins with an introductory
theme in ternary rhythm in which the theme of “La Dida” is anticipated in
different moments, that appears later fully exposed by the oboe and the
trombone. In contrast, a new theme self-created by the composer is introduced
in the violin and the violoncello, but is continually interrupted by the main
theme with interventions of the quintet. is the theme of "Dida" which
just holding fast with a shortened recapitulation and constituting the subject
of a scholastic fugue that concludes the work, in which the voices of the
quintet dialogue of contrapuntal way with the other elements of the orchestra .
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| Gabriel Delgado, Nemesio García Carril and Luis Otero during a rehearsal |
Meanwhile, within the roman school style, Escenas de “Campana y Piedra” para quinteto
de metales solista y orquesta takes us to an atmosphere typical of Galicia.
Composed at the request of Proemium Metals, the themes of this piece are taken
from the main themes that Nemesio Garcia Carril had devised for the soundtrack
of a film production, which consisted of a series of television and film: Campana y Piedra, based on the novel Fragmentos de Apocalipsis of Gonzalo
Torrente Ballester and with script and production by Jesús Navascués. Finally,
this film production was not carried out due to due to the unexpected death of
the producer moments before shooting. The plot of the movie would have been
developed in Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and its environment. Hence,
throughout the work is permanently evoked the Galician atmosphere in spite of
the absence of any folk theme: all the melodies are original from Nemesio
García Carril. The allusion to the Galician spirit is especially achieved by the design of the melodies and the modal treating of them. Similar to an overture in which different characters are presented, in the piece various themes occur. The
work begins with an introductory section -characterized by the melody of
the horn in the Dorian mode over D- ending once the quintet is presented
in its entirety solemnly on long values. This
leads to a second section that, under an expressive character and also
evolve in the Dorian mode -now over de E tone-, quintet and orchestra
converse in the manner of double choir to finish merging to reach the
climax. After
a transition section, a new theme is reached -in this case on the Phrygian mode-
so that is introduced by the oboe and developed by the quintet. Finally, a summary with the reprise of the introductory theme takes place,
which is followed by an exposition and stretti of a fugue in tempo allegro -whose
subject is precisely extracted from the introductory theme- in which the
quintet only, for candeza exhibits all his brilliance and virtuosity.
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Then begins the second part of the disc with works for
quintet alone. Dedicated by Gustavo Díaz Jerez to Proemium Metals, Anemoi
is the work among all presented here that offers a more innovative aesthetics:
from the technique employed in its composition (using algorithmic,
espectralists, fractals procedures and other methods used in computer-aided
composition), to the achievement of absolutely original colors for brass
instruments. The term "Anemoi" (Άνεμοι) referred in Greek mythology
to winds, which, like other natural agents, appeared personified in the manner
of gods to deliver a supernatural explanation of the evolution of nature. Within
the Anemoi, for main gods were identified, which correlate with the winds from
the four cardinal points: Boreas, from the north, consuming and violent; Noto, from
the south, destroying crops; Zephyr, from the west, the more smooth and friendly;
and Euro, from the east, bringing heat and rain. From a formal point of view,
the work presents the classical tripartite structure: exposition, development
and re-exposition. Although there is not a description intended by the
composer, within the exposition four thematic sections manifesting four
contrasting atmospheres are presented, and each of them can be taken to
correspond to the four winds: an expressive coral generated by the canonic
imitation between trumpets and horn, with inputs of trombone and tuba; an
imitative and contrapuntal part in a nervous and shaken character; a homophonic
section sharped and violent; and finally, a homophonic section again but with a
heavy mass sound and less sharped. After a long development in which the
different themes appear, the re-exposition takes place, shortened a 62% in
accordance with the Golden Section. There, the themes occur in reverse order to
the exhibition, concluding with the coral –in which the melodies are retrograded-
that ends diluted between different winds blow. The whole piece is developed within
an atonal language in which the chromatic density appears very carefully balanced,
and where the use of microtonality effects and mutes confers a unique aesthetic
to the work.
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| Proemium Metals and Gustavo Díaz Jerez after finishing a rehearsal
The work with which we conclude our journey takes us to an
aesthetic close to Stravinsky's neoclassicism. Derek Bourgeois’ Brass Quintet No. 2 was composed in 1972
for the Philip Jones Ensemble. However, the British group refused to play the
piece due to its very high technical difficulty and thus remained unperformed until
April 2014, when it was premiered by Proemium Metals. The work is divided into three
movements. The formal basis of each one of them is -either more or less explicitly,
prepared or distortioned- the classical scheme of tripartite sonata in its most
common two variants: ABA or exposition-development-recapitulation.
The first movement begins with the anticipation of the A
theme –a rhythmically binary one- through the presentation of its head and tail
elements in a developer way. The A theme will not appear perfectly defined
until its presentation in octave by the two trumpets. Next, a fugue exposition
serves as a transition towards the second big section of the movement. The
fugue exposition subject is based on the A theme and its four occurrences take
place at the interval distance of a 3rd minor, diachronically setting
the seventh minor chord over G sharp. Moreover, the fugue exposition subject is
accompanied by four polirhythmical controsoggetti.
Later, the B theme is progressive bringing in, by intercalating it in a
persistent fight with elements of the A theme tail and its rhythmical accompaniment.
In contrast with the A theme, the B theme is rhythmically ternary, hemiolical
in respect to the binary general time of the movement. The B theme will appear
completely presented later, having successive occurrences throughout the trumpet,
horn, trombone and tuba, always over a fully homophonical texture that
contrasts with the rhythmical character of the A theme accompaniment. And
suddenly the exposition begins, in which the A theme reappears first in
trumpet and trombone, and afterwards in interval inversion in trumpet and tuba.
The second movement begins with the same chord (perfect fifth and sixth minor)
and with the same instruments (horn, trombone and tuba) with which it began and
ended the first movement, giving a feeling of unity and continuity. Here we
find a bucolic and expressive first theme set out in trumpet and tuba. Then, after
a stunning trumpet cadence serves as a transition, it appears a second theme of
aggressive and violent, whose start is based on the tail of the A theme of the first movement. This second movement ends with the recapitulation of the first theme, now
in pianissimo and color screening instruments for the use of dampers. The
continuity between second and third movement is set back harmonious and
timbrically, this time through minor third interval between the trumpets.
The last movement exposition has the particularity of
being bi-thematic. it has a theme A built from elements of the themes of the first
movement, and a B theme that is executed by the muted trumpet and aims to
simulate the character of an improvised and fuzzy melody. After
that, it begins the development of the movement on the A theme, quickly passing
to develop the B theme, with an overlay of rhythmic melodies on the bass tuba
leading to a chaotic and apparent simultaneous improvisation of different
instruments texture. The re-exposition appears announced by the trumpets again
in the distance of a third minor. However, the exposition order is altered here.
Indeed, we find first the B theme without the melody, only with the
accompaniment (now in the horn, trombone and tuba subwoofer register), and only
after that is the A theme re-exposed. The work concludes with a coda of
considerable dimensions based on the motive that it had initiated this third
movement. All this is made within a complex harmonic language, with great
presence of dissonances but in which polarization to certain tones is not
rejected.
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