Other Identification:
These two pieces were the generous products of famed Spanish conductor and composer Miquel Ortega i Pujol from a request by David Johnstone for ‘something’ for FOUR CELLOS suitable for the group ‘HelloCello!’ of Pamplona, Spain – something being suitable for advanced students or professionals.
There are two pieces; the first, as a popular song, is based on the melody ‘Cant dels Ocells’ that was made so famous by Pau Casals, but here with a new harmonization and counterpoint giving a chamber music feel. The second – Highlands Dance – reveals a Keltic flavour, punctuated by bagpipe drone effects and fast-moving triplets bearing resemblance to the Scottish and Irish Jigs – in this music all four parts have prominence in varying moments throughout, and is certainly technically more difficult than the opening piece.
Tempos will vary, but the average duration should last a little over six minutes. In summing up, this is really delightful music to add to the Cello Quartet repertoire! …
Thanks Miquel !!
————————————————————————————-
MIQUEL ORTEGA I PUJOL
(Birth: Barcelona, February 1963).
Miquel Ortega Pujol is a prominent figure of his generation and recognized in the lyrical world in general (opera, operetta, zarzuela, etc.), as being one of the greatest experts on this genre in Spain, given that he has directed around 100 operatic titles and around 20 zarzuelas (light opera). He has conducted at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, at the Teatro Real (Madrid), Teatro de la Zarzuela and the National Auditorium of Music in Madrid, the Maestranza in Seville, the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, and in important halls and theatres from Pamplona, Valladolid, Jerez, Málaga, La Coruña, Zaragoza, Córdoba, Santiago de Compostela, Cantabria, Girona, Lleida, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tenerife…
Not just in Spain either; he appears at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Sao Carlos Theatre in Lisbon, the Opera Theatre in Lausanne, the Smetana Hall in Prague, the Moscow Kremlin Concert Hall, Hampton Court in London, etc. The list of countries where he has been invited to work is indeed very extensive: Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic, Norway, Great Britain, Scotland, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, among others.
He has composed countless works. Firstly, one should say that there are more than 100 concert songs (Lieder) – not surprising, perhaps, given his relationship with the vocal world. However, for those who investigate more, there are works for solo piano, chamber works for various groups, symphonies, concertos with a soloist, incidental music for theatre and several operas. His opera, “La casa de Bernarda Alba” was premiered in 2007 at the Brasov Opera (Romania) under his direction; it was also presented in Spain at the Santander and Peralada International Festivals in 2008, and continues to be performed in more recent years. years within various lyrical programming. The Royal Theatre of Madrid double commissioned him a sung Ballet “Bestiario”, premiered in 2010, together with a musical story “The Child and the Creation of the World”. Among other masterful premieres, one can find the “Suite Canalla” by Maestro Marc Moncusi, the opera “The Guardian of the Tales” commissioned by Ópera de Cámara de Navarra and co-produced by Bilbao’s ABAO, “Preludios y Danzas” for piano that was taken to Carnegie Hall in New York and on to the Berlin Philharmonic. Among other premieres there are some originalities such as “Letter from Don Quixote to Dulcinea”, “Combat del somni”, “Pascua Florida”, “Three burlesque poems and a love song”, “Suite de Ibero-American dances”, “Après moi, le déluge”, “Prelude, song and dance”, etc… He also composed an audacious Tango for Solo Violoncello, recorded by David Johnstone.
Much of his lieder work is being recorded on disc, with the special work of pianist Rubén Fernández Aguirre, the main supporter of his work, who has not only released various cycles and individual songs, but has recorded some of them with artists of the stature of the recently deceased Montserrat Caballé, Ainhoa Arteta, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Luis Lima and Carlos Álvarez, among others. The baritone Enric Martínez-Castignani and the pianist Carlos Aragón are the protagonists of the only monographic work, to date, on Miquel Ortega, including thirty of his songs on their CD “Memento”.
Miquel Ortega is a staunch defender of Spanish lyrical heritage, promoting the “Zarzuela: World Heritage” campaign that receives very important support from SGAE (Spanish Performing Rights Association), Fundation Guerrero, Fundation Juan March, Teatro de la Zarzuela and UNESCO itself within Spain. Another result of his interest in the Spanish lyrical genre are the important revisions made by Ortega of works such as “Los Gavilanes” for the Guerrero Foundation, “Marina” by Arrieta and “Chateaux Margaux” by Fernández Caballero for TRITÓ editions and “Maruxa” by Vives for SGAE.
For some years now he has also been carrying out a teaching activity parallel to his work as a director and composer, having offered to singers, pianists and conductors the chances to participate in numerous Master Classes in operatic interpretation, on both sides of the Atlantic. Many young conductors work with him regularly on both the technical aspects of conducting and the interpretative aspects of disparate repertoires, both symphonic and lyrical.
One of the most important Spanish musicians of the twenty-first century.
Fully crediting Ricardo Campos Urbaneja for the basis of this biography in Spanish
