Manuel de Falla in Context: The Concerto
Part of the Music from Spain: A Fall of Concerts classical music series organized by the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C., the concerto as a whole is a kind of condensation of the history of Spanish music.
The concerto as a whole is a kind of condensation of the history of Spanish music. The first movement quotes Spanish Renaissance songs, as collected by the musicologist Felipe Pedrell. The second certainly evokes the sixteenth century church music of Tomas Luis de Victoria —from the time of Don Quixote— but with a simplicity that rigorously negates any sense of grandeur. The last movement is all about the Spanish keyboard school of Scarlatti and Soler, which was the final manifestation of Spanish greatness in music before the twentieth century.
Falla shows, in summary, what Spanish music has been about: the popular music, the religious music, the keyboard school. And —ignoring the nineteenth century and zarzuela, which he found musically less interesting— he transfers it all to a twentieth century idiom.
Program
- De los álamos vengo, madre from “Cuatro madrigales amatorios”, Joaquín Rodrigo (1902-1999)
- Pange lingua gloriosi, Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1264)
- Caligaverunt oculi mei (Mine eyes are dim with weeping), Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
- La noche oscura (The dark night), John of the Cross (1542-1591)
- Sonata in D, Mateo Albéniz
- Sonata in D, Padre Antonio Soler
- Concerto for keyboard and five instruments, Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): I. Allegro. II. Lento: giubiloso ed energico. III. Vivace: flessibile, scherzando
Artists
- PostClassical Ensemble: Netanel Draiblate, violin, Benjamin Capps, cello, Lauren Sileo, flute, Fatma Daglar, oboe, David Jones, clarinet
- Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor
- Pedro Carboné, piano
- Genevieve McGahey, soprano
- Biraj Barkakaty, countertenor
- Andrew Brown, tenor
- William Townsend, bass
Practical information
- Admission: Free
- Phone: (202) 728-2334
- Venue: Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain, 2801 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009
- This concert is sold out.
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