FT

Structured as four numbers in the end, the Peralada suite expresses the impact made by these visits through four "impressions for piano" (as indicated in the subtitle of the work). Indeed, it is the composer's most "impressionist" work, as it seeks to reflect, through memory, the sensations aroused by the contemplation of the landscape. At the same time, it is a compendium of his mastery and art at its apogee. The cycle starts with "El parc", a revised, definitive version of the original "Le Bois". The piece is a veritable musical poem, passing like a sigh between murmurs and vaporous sounds produced by a markedly Debussian score. On a harmonic pedal used from the beginning to the end, blocks of chords rub together, free from any tonal relationship, to produce an unreal atmosphere. The wind crosses the landscape from time to time, carrying with it the echo of remote melodies. In "El castell, el castellar i la castellana" (The Castle, the Lord of the Castle and the Castilian Girl), a theme with an archaic character in the style of a knightly march, he suggests a new mood reminiscent of medieval times. An indisputably Wagnerian melody immediately evokes the vision of the hero, embodied by intentionally conventional piano scoring. A sudden, very cinematic change of plan (the composer was a great fan of cinema) introduces a third more tender and anxious theme (the Castilian Girl). With a return to the initial epic, the piece ends triumphantly in an undeniably "cinematic" finale with the ringing of bells into the bargain. "Oració a la Verge Carmelitana" (Prayer to the Carmelite Virgin) shifts the scenario to the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel next to the castle. A first theme, ideal for the harmonium, calls the congregation to prayer. The large number and diverse nature of the melodies that follow seems to suggest a wide range of prayers and supplications. In a veritable pianistic tour of force the suite finishes with "Nimfes en el jardí" (Nymphs in the garden). Written in the style of a scherzo féerique, the piece seems to go beyond the strict form of the rondo on which it is based and fades out leaving a decidedly dreamlike sensation.

Easy Jota for piano solo written in 1918. Score. Jota fàcil per a piano sol escrita el 1918. Partitura. Jota fácil para piano solo escrita en 1918. Partitura.

Missa a vuit veus (repartides en tres cors) i continuo per a ser interpretada amb ministrils. Escrita per Joan Verdalet (1632 - 1691) per al culte de la Catedral de Girona. El volum inclou l'edició a cura de Josep Maria Gregori amb estudi preliminar en català, castellà i anglès. L'edició parteix del manuscrit conservat al Fons de l'església parroquial de Sant Pere i Sant Pau de Canet de Mar i constitueix el dotzè volum de la col·lecció Mestres Catalans Antics - Quaderns dels Fons Musicals de Catalunya vinculada al projecte IFMuC de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

The motet Dixit Rex by Tomás Milans (1672-1742) was composed in 1724 on the occasion of the proclamation of Louis I (1707-1724), son of Philip V, as king of Spain. And, while his reign was brief, since the king died eight months later, his enthronement was enthusiastically feted in many cities, as reflected in different documents of the time. In the Girona of 1724 this coronation was also celebrated and the festivities are recorded in the document Relación de las singulares públicas festividades ("Description of special public festivities…"). This records in detail the activities organised during the eight days of the celebrations, from 26 March to 2 April 1724. In addition, the decoration of streets, squares, stately homes, public and religious buildings is carefully described; various events are also mentioned, such as theatrical performances, dances, processions with the royal banner and liturgical ceremonies; and the different instruments and instrumental ensembles used are listed, namely oboes, shawms, timbales and violins. The musicians who formed the groups came from military regiments, religious chapels and minstrels' guilds. This is the historical context of the Dixit Rex motet. When Tomás Milans composed the Dixit Rex motet in 1724, he occupied the position of chapel master at the Cathedral of Girona. This motet has an important place in his oeuvre, being his only known piece of profane music with Latin text. The manuscript is stored at the National Library of Catalonia under shelf number Ms BC 740/10. It proposes two choirs and an instrumental ensemble formed by violins I and II, organ and accompaniment for ten voices; with a formal arrangement in four parts – the first part, Sinfonía, missing – and in the key of B flat major with homophonous and imitative textures, concertato and accompanied melody. In line with the theorists of the time – among them, Valls and Ulloa – the use of rhetorical figures in different parts of the motet, such as anabasis, anadiplosis and homeoteleuton among others, responded to the idea of emphasizing the text. On the one hand, this text expresses the popular acclaim given to the new monarch and, on the other, the attempt to link the monarchy with the house of Israel. Thus, we can regard the Dixit Rex motet as a profane paraphrasis of Psalm 109 Dixit Dominus, with which it would appear that the monarchic relationship with the dynasty of Israel tends to corroborate the human-divine nexus that royalty was supposed to possess. Although the text is in Latin, the Dixit Rex motet escapes the canons of the sacred motet and is closer in form to the villancico in its compositional procedures. Likewise, the Todos section features a common cross-frontier language typical of composers such as Corelli and Handel. In the context of the Girona of 1724, the motet was part of all the acts and celebrations typical of the pomp involved in the proclamation of a new monarch, fully fulfilling the compositional goals of Baroque rhetoric, summarized as instructing, delighting and moving the listener.