Banda Sinfónica Municipal de València

Cecilia Bercóvich, violin

María de los Llanos, soprano

Miquel Rodrigo i Tamarit, conductor

Concert per a violí. Op.12 / IKW 5 (1924) Kurt Weill (1900 – 1950) 33’

‘Oído Interno. The earthworm also sings’ (2023) Isabel Latorre (1984) 12’
‘Images from the Black Windows’ (2022) Agustí Charles Soler (1960) 15’

*With the support fo the Ernst Siemens Foundation

Kurt Weill, Violin Concerto. Op.12 / IKW 5 (1924)

The concerto for violin and wind orchestra that Weill
composed in the early summer of 1924, shortly before the death of his teacher Ferruccio Busoni, is the first large-scale work he wrote after his time with Busoni. It is also the first work in which he consciously declared his independence, albeit only as regards the technical procedure, not the aesthetic principles of his beloved teacher. The concerto was written for the violinist Joseph Szigeti, but it was
premiered by Marcel Darieux at an ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) concert conducted by Walter Straram in 1925. During the 1920s, it became one of his most widely performed instrumental works. The philosopher T.W. Adorno wrote the following about the work: “In this piece, the lines of Weill’s development intersect; the Busoni-esque lucidity is still there, playfully avoiding both dense polyphony and indeed the melodic plasticity which Weill was later to round out so strikingly. There is a strong trace of Stravinsky to be found in the classical, masterly clarity of the sound and in much of the wind writing. The later Weill can be heard in the dramatic pungency which
often enough contradicts the classical balance, but most remarkable of all is a Mahlerian quality, at once garishly expressive and painfully laughing, which calls everything playful and secure into question. Weill thus relinquishes objective realism in favour of the dangerous, surrealistic realm he inhabits today. The piece stands isolated and alien: that is, in the right place.”
– Steven Dennis Bodner

Isabel Latorre Oído interno (Inner ear) (2023)

Our bodies are living organisms which, though we do not hear them, produce noise as a result of biological activities, even (or especially) when they are dysfunctional ones. This work poetically amplifies this sound reality that we are normally unaware of, attempting to generate a greater connection with the listener’s organism. To do so, in the composition and in the interpretation, she uses the theories of Deep Listening (P. Oliveros) as a basis, as well as different breathing techniques, a basic element for any instrumentalist in a band.
– Isabel Latorre

Agustí Charles Images from the Black Windows

This work is based on French texts The Windows by
R.M. Rilke, “A very melancholic poetry, which with very few words describes an anguish for what you want and don’t get. They are very charming texts, which carry a great emotional and visual charge,” as the composer explains. There are five of these windows, which are: a strange one, Fenêtre étranger (Strange window); measures for waiting, Vers une autre vie (Towards another life); made of glass, like bottles, Image bue (Empty image); companions for
confidences, Heures émues (Emotional hours); and scenes of a goodbye, Fenêtre ultime (Last window), a last one to be be explained through vocals. They are five windows, or interludes, that we shall discover immediately, without pausing, “as if we were walking and we first find one, then the next and the next, all half-ajar, until the last one, which surprisingly will be open.”
– Barcelona Auditorium 2022