19pm
Antoni Besses is a complete musician: in addition to his work as a pianist and teacher, he is also a composer. And
among his credentials, he has always shown a particular interest in the essential music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Examples of this include Besses’ well-known recordings of The Well-Tempered Clavier, and the substantial work he has done on the Goldberg Variations. He is also renowned for his admirable technique and the eloquent expressive projection he achieves in his performances of the great repertoires of Romanticism, his excellent interpretations of Schumann being particularly noteworthy in this respect. And among his wide-ranging repertoire, we must highlight his fruitful studies of 18th-century Spanish composers, a tradition that was underpinned by Granados and his piano works. Besses managed to synthesise these all different worlds into his recordings (with Miquel Farré) of Frederic Mompou’s entire work, when the composer was still alive. His CV also includes collaborations with such important names as Pierre Sancan, Frédéric Gevers, Olivier Messiaen and Alicia de Larrocha. All of the above helps to explain both his reflective capacities and his commitment to expression, in the face of the challenges of performing. Hence also the important role that he has played as a teacher for the brilliant new generation of musicians. As for his own generation, Besses forms part of a constellation of important pianists that includes Miquel Farré, Ramon Coll, Albert Atenelle, Paula Torrontegui, Àngel Soler and others. Composition – using a formal, renovating perspective – has always constituted an important part of Besses’ expressive development, and he has a very extensive catalogue; however, this has been somewhat overshadowed by his reputation as a performer, though his compositional skills are spotlighted today with the debut performance of his work Materia sonorapartículas. In this programme, Antoni Besses makes allusions to all his major interests. He gives a distinct nod to Bach in his Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor is, in a harmonic context that features liberal use of the diminished seventh, as well as reflecting his interest in variation and the exercising of tonal freedom, and which constitutes the gateway for his masterly Fugue.
While the importance of Bach’s work was undeniably acknowledged by the great composers, it did not reach the general public until the time of Romanticism. In the late 19th century, Brahms composed his 6 Klavierstücke, short pieces in which he explores the art of variation. The first two Intermezzi – the first one passionate in A minor, the second, sentimental in A major – are juxtaposed in terms of tonality; the Ballad that follows is in G minor, with its characteristic third interval in the theme. Finally, the Intermezzo presents the reviewer with something of a puzzle, in the form of two thematic ideas that are interwoven, and featuring a discourse with delicate harmonies.
To complete the aesthetic profile of this programme, which begins with Bach’s Chorales, there is the Prelude, chorale and fugue, one of the high points of Romantic piano music from that maestro of form, César Franck, and which was composed a decade before the Klavierstücke.
Gershwin explores a kind of crossover synthesis, in which he lends his classical training to jazz. These three Preludes represent a formal allusion of artistry in which the American musician inserts a harmonic section into the central blues. The composer described his Agitato nº 3 as “Spanish”.
Jorge de Persia
Cycle: 10th Sprint Concert
Organized by: Residence for Researchers
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