Jesús Bal y Gay (Lugo 1905 – Madrid 1993) and Salvador Bacarisse (Madrid
1898 – Paris 1963) were two musicians and intellectuals who belonged to
the group known as the Generation of ‘27. Having received their
education in Spain, they went into exile as a consequence of the
atrocities of the Civil War that Spain suffered between 1936 and 1939.
Written in 1942 and performed for the first time in 1946, the
Divertimento for Woodwind Quartet is structured in 4 movements. Some
aspects attest to the clear influence of Falla, and the use of rhythmic
and harmonic pedal notes owes an obvious debt to Stravinsky, charting an
aesthetic line close to Neoclassicism. The four movements demonstrate
careful, unfussy composition, with few rhythmic complexities, a clear
texture that is almost classic in style, melodically avoiding the
excessive leaps of the dissonant harmonies of the new melodic concepts
of the 20th century, with a counterpoint inherited from Classicism and
an entirely traditional instrumental syntax. It is also possible to hear
echoes of traditional Galician music, such as the constant purring of
the last movement evocative of the drone of the gaita, the typical
instrument of Bal y Gay’s native province of Galicia.
Is thought to have been composed in 1955 for clarinet and piano.
Bacarisse went on to produce two new versions of the work for violin and
piano, and for cello and piano, respectively. In both cases the title
was changed to Introduction, Variations and Coda. The
manuscript of the first version has been lost, so Joan Enric Lluna took
on the challenge of trying to reconstruct the work for clarinet,
tailoring the music to the instrument’s particular idiosyncrasies while
adhering as closely as possible to the composer’s other versions for
violin and cello. Knowing the capabilities of the Valencian clarinettist
and conductor, and hearing the resulting sound, we must applaud this
work for its fidelity to the style and aesthetic of the Madrid composer.
Of a similar aesthetic are the two pieces for solo harp, and harp and
wind instruments. The Concert pour le jour de l’an, Concert for the Day
of the Year, for Harp and Woodwind is an expanded version of the
Concerto in E flat that Bacarisse wrote in 1954 for the same combination
of instruments which was subsequently reorchestrated in 1961 under the
same title Concert pour le jour de l’an but in this case with the
orchestration increased to for Harp and Orchestra. There is no record of
the first version having ever been performed.
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