January 14, 2025 | Tchaikovsky Concert Hall
Spain Melodies
Soloists: Esperanza Fernández, vocal
José María Gallardo del Rey, guitar
Conductor – Cézar Alvarez
Turina. Danzas fantásticas, Op. 22
Rodrigo. Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra
De Falla. Fragments from the ballet "El amor brujo" ("Love, the sorcerer")
De Falla – Alvarez. Suite from the ballet "El sombrero de tres picos" ("The Three-Cornered Hat")
Spain Melodies is a festive program inviting music lovers to greet gaily and sparklingly the Old New Year and feel the warmth of the southern sun during the Moscow winter. The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia will host on this day guests from Spain – stars of academic and traditional folk music arts, namely conductor Cézar Alvarez, cantaora Esperanza Fernández and guitar player José María Gallardo del Rey. The program will display only masterpieces by Spanish classics – Joaquín Turina, Manuel de Falla and Joaquín Rodrigo.
Maestro Cézar Alvarez, who is equally busy in concert and teaching activities both in Spain and in the US, has got very special connections with Russian music culture. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where he had studied under the guidance of Dmitry Kitaenko, befriended Eduard Artemyev, and for ten years directed the Tomsk Academic Symphony Orchestra, worked with other leading Russian collectives and soloists. Rachmaninoff's art is of special interest for him, but it will be especially interesting to hear him in Spanish music as a representative of national traditions.
Seville-born Esperanza Fernández is the queen of her genre, a classic flamenco performer from a well-known Gypsy dynasty where traditions and mastership have been inherited and passed forth for generations. Just for such an artist Pastora Imperio Manuel de Falla wrote his ballet El amor brucho based on legends and fairy-tales of Gypsies from Andalusia. However, beside Pastora, de Falla had heard other folk artists and had a large knowledge of the Andalusian folklore elements, which he insightfully used in his score. Nowadays Esperanza Fernández is one of the most sought-after performers for the Candelas part, such as in the famous production by the acclaimed Barcelona group La Fura des Baus.
Not less popular was de Falla's ballet El sombrero des tres picos after the novel by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon for Diaghilev's enterprise. The production staged by Léonide Massine was Diaghilev's “dream come true” about a genuine Spanish ballet, especially so as it had Pablo Picasso as the set artist whereas Massine, dancing the main part, had taken special studies of flamenco dancing.
Multicolored images of Spain in a splendid orchestral sound will also be presented in Danzas fantásticas by Joaquín Turina, one of the most important representatives of the young Spanish national school formed in the 1910-s. All his oeuvre is imbibed with the nationalistic spirit and he often used elements of Andalusian folklore.
And finally, the most known work in the program – Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra by Joaquín Rodrigo with the cult guitarist José María Gallardo del Rey. His fine understanding of the Flamenco style and superb virtuosity have brought him a world-wide fame. He has often been invited to work with world stars, such as Placido Domingo, Teresa Berganza and Elīna Garanča, and best world orchestras.
One of the greatest figures in Spanish music, Joaquín Rodrigo is a national idol. During his long artistic life, he had written a great amount of works in various styles and joined the eternity as a highly appreciated master. Concierto de Aranjuez made him world-known. It was dedicated to his first performer Regino Sainz de la Maza. The Concerto has become a music symbol of Spain and made famous the Madrid suburb Aranjues with its Spanish Versailles – the Royal sumptuous residence with gorgeous gardens. In 1991, the King of Spain Juan Carlos I granted Rodrigo with the title of Marquis de Aranjues Gardens.