March 2021
Repertoire
Concierto de Aranjuez
Symphony No. 8, Op. 93
Performers
Pablo Sáinz Villegas, guitar
Orquestra Simfònica Camera Musicae
Guillermo García Calvo, conductor
Programme notes
GOOD DIGESTION
Rodrigo and Beethoven were very happy with the time they shared with their respective friends since both the concert and the symphony of this programme arose from conversations held in the heat of a good table. Eighty years have passed since the premiere at the Palau de la Música Catalana (1940), the most famous and most interpreted guitar concerto of all time. An completely rounded piece, not only by the ingenuity of Joaquín Rodrigo to ensure that a symphony orchestra does not cover the sound of the guitar in any of its three movements, but also by the imaginative way in which it allows us to perceive some of the senses of the Gardens of Aranjuez : the sound of the birds, the murmur of the water from the fountains and even the perfume of the flowers.
Beethoven referred to this work as “a small symphony”, not because it lacked interest for him but because of its shorter duration. He always spoke of it with great love because it is an extrovert, happy and humorous work that helped him forget the sadness of the difficult relationships with his nephew and his sister-in-law. It does not have slow movement and in the Allegretto scherzando we can hear a good example of that good humor through a rhythmic obstinato that makes reference to the invention that Johann Nepomuk Mälzel was developing and that would come to be called a ‘metronome.
CONCERT DATES
El Concierto de Aranjuez
Biography Pablo Sáinz Villegas
Pablo Sáinz Villegas has been acclaimed by the international press for his “virtuous and moving interpretation of an irresistible exuberance and a range of bright colors” (The New York Times).
Since his debut at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic, he has become a benchmark of current symphonic guitar playing with conductors and orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto, Israel, the Orquesta Nacional de España and in historic halls such as the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
He has had the privilege of playing on various occasions in front of members of the Spanish Royal Family, as well as in front of other international leaders such as the Dalai Lama, among others. Plácido Domingo has described him as “the master of Spanish guitar” and with him has had the privilege of recording a duet album, as well as participating in the tribute held in his honor at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium of Madrid in front of 85.000 people and in a concert on a floating stage on the Amazon River televised to millions of viewers around the world.
Pablo Sáinz Villegas has been awarded more than thirty international prizes including the Andrés Segovia Prize, the Riojan Arts Award and the Ojo Crítico Award of Radio Nacional de España, and has made numerous world premieres, including the first work written for guitar by the composer and winner of five Oscars, John Williams.