Introduction

CATALAN COMPOSERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY
In this radio programme you are going to listen to the following words. Read and listen to them. Make sure you know what they mean.

homage: homenatge
moving: commovedor
ethnic: ètnic
root: arrel
genre: gènere literari o musical

Ready?

Now read the questions below. Read them carefully before listening to the radio programme.

CATALAN COMPOSERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY
An interview with Jim Preston and Mary Kovacs

Presenter(Julia): You are listening to Radio 6 International in Barcelona. And this is Music Today, a programmethat not only listens to but also talks about music. Well. In Spain we tend to associate contemporary symphonic music with foreign names. When talking about contemporary composers, we think of Penderecki, Copland, Cage, Shostakovitch, or Glass, to name just a few of them. All of them great names, but ... foreign. Except for Rodrigo, Halffter, and maybe Mompou, many of us would have problems remembering any contemporary Spanish composers at all. And recognising their music would be even a harder task.

So, it’s a pleasant surprise to discover that students from other countries come here to study Catalan contemporary music. They mention with admiration names like Homs, Quadrenys, Brotons, which for many Catalans are still a mystery. Today we welcome two of these students, Jim Preston from the USA and Mary Kovacs, from Hungary. Mary speaks excellent English. Jim, Mary, welcome to our program.

Presenter: Do many students come to Catalonia to study music?

Jim: Yes.

Mary: No.

Presenter: Is it yes or no?

Mary: Well, Julia. Many come because they want to be interpreters. Especially of Spanish music. And you have some wonderful piano, guitar and opera trainers.

Presenter:But you’re composers, not interpreters. Why did you two choose Barcelona?

Jim: We came here because we were intrigued with Catalan music. Some of the great composers of the 20th century were born here.

Presenter: Is this true? We all know about our great modernist architects -Gaudí, Domènech- and, even a few composers of the so-called nationalistic period, like Albéniz or Granados. But contemporary symphonic composers?

Mary: It’s so shocking to discover that they are virtually unknown in their own country!

Jim: Many had to emigrate.

Mary: True. In the thirties and the forties. Mainly for political reasons. People like Robert Gerhardt, born in Valls, who spent all his life teaching composition in Oxford.

Jim: But this is the older generation. Many are dead now. Younger composers went off to other countries just to expand their musical education. Then they stayed there. My teacher at the Carnegie Melton University in the USA is one of them.

Presenter:You’re talking about ...

Jim: Balada, Lleonart Balada.

Mary: I love his music. It’s a wild explosion of very rich sounds, rhythm and drama. His earlier works like Guernica, No-res or his Steel Symphony are simply extraordinary.

Presenter: Is his music American?

Jim: I’d call it universal. But in his later period he mixes a modern style with ethnic ideas. His Negro-Homage to Marthin Luther King shows a strong American influence and his Spanish roots are clear in his Homage to Casals and Sarasate.

Mary: In a recent interview he confessed that he has mainly been influenced by artists in other fields, like Dali, with whom he worked in New York in the 50s and the 60s.

Jim: This kind of interaction or cooperation is frequent among composers.

Presenter: Is it? I ‘m not sure ...

Jim: Think of Guinjoan and his new opera Gaudí, which is based on a text by Josep M. Carandell.

Mary: Benguerel and his opera Dalí. The script has been written by Jaime Salom, the author of over 40 theatre plays.

Presenter: I’ve never heard of these operas. Yet you seem very familiar with them.

Jim: Dalí will be first performed in 2004. And Gaudí in the same year.

Presenter:But operas may not reach the big public. Don’t they write more popular compositions?

Mary: Most of them write for a variety of genres. Think of Montsalvatge and his Cinco Canciones Negras.

Jim: I love these songs. They made him world-famous. Think of his other great works, like ...

Mary: Benguerel’s Simfonia de Rèquiem is one of the most moving pieces I know.

Presenter:Wait a second. All this sounds like a triple big coincidence to me. These people belong to the same generation. They are men and all of them were born in Barcelona.

Jim: It’s true that the generation born in the thirties -Balada, Benguerel, Guinjoan, and all the others- was particularly fruitful. But Mercè Capdevila is a woman and she was born later. So is Teresa Borràs or Carme Miró.

Mary: Quadrenys is from Manresa. And Guinjoan was born in the Baix Camp.

Jim: Montsalvatge was from Girona.

Presenter: Ok, ok. You have mentioned some names. Are there any others?

Mary: Dozens. Brotons,...

Jim: Oltra, ...

Presenter: Enough. I believe you. Why is it that we don’t know them as well as you do?

Mary: This surprises us too. Maybe it’s easier to listen to other kinds of music.

Jim: Cheaper music.

Mary: Maybe they do not get the public support they deserve.

Jim: Maybe more musical education is needed in the schools.

Presenter: Well. Whatever the reasons, you have opened a fascinating panorama in front of us. Maybe we should invite some of these composers to our program and listen to their music.