Entre olivares Joaquin Rodrigo – volume 1

Description

The complete works for guitar by Joaquin Rodrigo occupy an important place in the center of contemporary literature for this instrument. Although a non-guitarist, as a composer Rodrigo approaches the guitar with an extraodinary intuition and remarkable originality. With the exception of the Tonadilla for two guitars, the Concierto Madrigal and the Concierto Andaluz, he writes only for solo guitar. It is surpising to find that, over the years, interpreters have selected and recorded only a few pieces from the rich body of his work for guitar, leaving the others almost unknown. The edition of the complete works for guitar is an homage which must be paid to the talent of this composer who knows how to touch the soul of the guitar in the deepest way.

Although the five impressionistic pieces were published separately, each was intended to be a movement of what Rodrigo likes to call his “imaginary suite”, Por los campos de España.
It is for this reason that these pieces have been presented here as a suite for the first time.
As the title suggests, each movement is draw from the inspiration of a different region or landscape of Spain. En los trigales puts us in the region of Castilla la Vieja, where they have a taste for loud music. The piece is reminiscent of a rewarding, celebratory dance after the hard labor of harvesting the wheat. Junto al Generalife portrays the palace and gardens situated on the slopes of the Cerro del Sol, where the kings of Granada loved to stay. Bajando de la meseta refers to a plateau in the region of Castilla la Nueva: coming down from this plateau, one reaches Andalucia. En tierras de Jerez evokes the region of Jerez de la Frontera where the delicious sherry is produced; this piece is composed around the passionate flamenco dance peteneras. Entre olivares captures the earthy aroma of the olives which permeates the air throughout Southern Spain.

The piece Pajaros de primavera was inspired by a visit to Rodrigo from the Japanese guitarist Take Takahashi. The composer was taken with Take’s wonderment at the beauty of a flock of swifts swooping overhead. He composer a piece to reflect the flight of these lovely birds and to commemorate spring, it was dedicated to Take Takahashi. Tragically she would never play the piece; she only heard ot played by a friend at her bedside on the eve of her passing. Pajaros de primavera was given its world premier in Japan by Christopher Parkening.

Tiento antiguo is inspired by the music of the vihuela from the 15th century. It was written in 1947 and dedicated to Siegfried Behrend.

Rodrigo felt a need to compose a short set of “easy” pieces for the student guitarist, resulting in the Tres piezas pequeñas. Far from being really easy, they are, however, among his more technically approachable, and musically charming pieces. The first piece, Ya se van los pastores, is a solo guitar setting of an old Spanish Christmas Carol and is dedicates to Heitor Villa Lobos. The second piece, Por los caminos de Santiago, lets us walk at a stroller’s pace through the old Galician city of Santiago de Compostela. The last piece, Pequeña sevillana,is a setting of a traditional flamenco dance. It also means “A young girl from Sevilla” and could evoke her pertness and grace.

Urged by Robert Vidal to submit a piece to the “Coupe Internationale de Guitare” (1961), and due to lack of time, Rodrigo decided to rework a piece written several years before for Regino Sainz de la Maza who was the only one in possession of the manuscript. Invocation et danse was sent to Paris under the nom-de-plume of Mio Cid, arriving just hours before the deadline. The work received the first prize. It is an homage to Manuel de Falla quoting El amor brujo and Homenaje a Debussy.