On November 9, 1940, at the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Aranjuez Concerto could be heard for the first time, a composition for guitar and orchestra that would soon achieve worldwide fame, in an evening that also included Symphony No. 9, Del New World by Antonin Dvo?ák. Since then, numerous top-level orchestras and renowned guitarists, from Narciso Yepes to Paco de Lucía (including other instrumentalists such as trumpeter Miles Davis), have tackled the immortal work that Joaquín Rodrigo composed in Paris evoking walks with his wife through the gardens of Aranjuez, the city where they both spent their honeymoon.
Now, the Franz Schubert Filharmonia opens its 2023-24 concert season by reliving that magical opening night, addressing much of the same program that was already heard at the Palau. In addition, it will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Pau Casals by reviewing some of his most emblematic works. Since its founding in 2006, this group, made up of a new generation of the best musicians under the baton of Tomàs Grau, main and artistic director, has stood out for its high musical level and the versatility of its repertoire, with a sound that the Grau himself has described it as “Mediterranean”.
His different seasons at the Palau have become one of the main musical events in Barcelona. In addition, the orchestra has performed in venues such as the Liceu, l’Auditori and other important Spanish and international venues. They have collaborated with numerous soloists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alice Sara Ott, or Maria João Pires and with orchestra conductors such as Josep Pons, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Antoni Ros Marbà or Edmon Colomer, among many others.
To perform Maestro Rodrigo’s work, the orchestra will have an exceptional guest, Miloš Karadagli?, a young and talented guitarist from Montenegro acclaimed throughout the world, as confirmed by his long tours, six recordings in the charts and numerous television appearances, as well as various awards and a large legion of fans. His career began meteorically in 2011, with his debut album with the successful Mediterráneo (where you could hear works by Granados, Francesc Tàrrega and Albéniz). In 2013, Karadagli? recorded the Aranjuez Concerto with the same label.
The works with which the Franz Schubert Filharmonia will open the season have, despite their diversity, one element in common: all three were written far from the place where their composers were born. Furthermore, in all of them we find inspiration in sounds with strong roots. In the case of the Aranjuez Concerto – a work full of feeling and color whose famous adagio has become the most performed Spanish score of all time – the influences of various flamenco styles as well as Spanish baroque dances are notable.
Dvo?ák, for his part, composed his most famous symphony in the United States, being influenced by the ancestral music of the American Indians and black music. At the same time, it is easy to perceive the longing for his native Czechia. The work, lyrical and energetic in equal parts, was born with the intention of creating a distinctly American form of composition, although it ended up being a brilliant amalgamation of sounds, in which echoes of bohemian folklore, of Wagner or Smetana, of black spirituals resonate. and even boogie-woogie.
The program of these concerts will open with a memory of Pau Casals, one of the most important musicians of the 20th century who also stood out for his social and political commitment, which manifested itself in the desire to bring classical music closer to the working class or its refusal to play in Francoist Spain or Nazi Germany. The Franz Schubert Filharmonia – resident orchestra of El Vendrell, Casals’ birthplace – will perform Sant Martí del Canigó, a sardana composed during the exile in Prada de Conflent that is a song of hope, inspired by the poem Canigó by Jacint Verdaguer.
The orchestra will tour various Catalan auditoriums, which will also have a stop at the National Auditorium in Madrid (Tuesday, October 3 at 7:30 p.m.), to then cross the Atlantic and arrive in the United States. This trip in commemoration of the disappearance of Casals will also serve for the Franz Schubert Filharmonia to debut for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York, offering a concert that will bring together different music and allow us to commemorate the Peace Medal that the UN awarded. to the great Catalan cellist and composer in 1971 for his humanitarian work in defense of peace, at its official headquarters in this same city.
The Catalan tour will open with the concert on Saturday, September 30, at 8 p.m., at the Terrassa Cultural Factory. On Sunday, October 1, at 5:30 p.m., the big event will take place at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. After the aforementioned visit to Madrid, the next stop will be the Enric Granados Auditorium in Lleida, on Friday, October 6, at 8 p.m. The tour will continue in Tarragona (at the Teatre Tarragona, on Saturday, October 7, at 8 p.m.) and Vic (on Sunday, October 8, at 6 p.m., at L’Atlàntida). Tickets can be purchased in advance at franzschubertfilh.com, on the websites of the respective concert halls, and in person at the box office during normal times.
Two days after the concert in Vic, the orchestra will premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York, at 8 p.m., to conclude the trip in Washington, at the Lisner Auditorium, on Thursday, October 12, at the same time. This series of concerts, which are also a great journey of musical celebration, will serve to remember the strong cultural and historical ties that exist between our country and the United States. Symphonic music thus becomes a magnificent means of commemorating the past and creating new bridges that continue to unite people on both sides of the Atlantic.
