Presentación del concierto "Música pedagógica española contemporánea" / Presentation of the concert "Contemporary Spanish pedagogical music"

Center for the Diffusion of Contemporary Music. Reina Sofía Museum, Assembly Hall, April 20, 1998



Program:
Román Alís: Los días de la semana, op. 72, for piano
Alberto Gómez: Las canciones de Mambrú, for piano
José Luis Turina: Siete piezas, for piano
Antón García Abril: Doce piezas, for violín and piano
Enrique Igoa: Manifiesto I: La mirada interrumpida, op. 33, for cello and piano
María Escribano: Iriselias, for violín, cello and piano

Performers:
Alberto Gómez, piano
José Carlos Martín, violin
Juan Enrique Sainz, cello


Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to this concert dedicated entirely to contemporary Spanish pedagogical music. The unusual nature of the proposal has not been an obstacle, as you can see, to its programming within the "Concerts at the Museum" cycle of the CDMC, for which we value and deeply appreciate all those who in one way or another, either as authors or as performers, intervene in this concert. And the unusual nature of the proposal also requires these brief words of introduction, which have no other objective than to focus this act in its fair terms.
This concert was born out of the initiative of a group of teachers of the Madrid Professional Conservatory of Music "Arturo Soria", who were especially concerned about the stagnation that the didactic repertoire has suffered for decades, as well as about the lack of an adequate repertoire that allows the development of the initial levels of the new music education whose reform, as you know, is currently in the process of being implemented, especially with regard to chamber music, which, due to starting earlier in the new curricula, does not have an adequate or abundant repertoire.
The objective of the concert is, therefore, twofold: on the one hand, to present new works to teachers and students; on the other, to serve as an incentive for the composition of many others by composers. The educational world is immense, and composers, unfortunately, tend to put it aside in favor of "catalogue" music.
Lastly, it should be borne in mind that the works that we will hear have not been written with their performance in concert as their purpose -which makes this act even more unusual-, but that all of them have the classroom as their priority destination, and more specifically the level training focused on elementary and middle degrees. This explains the lack of virtuosity in writing, as well as the fact that concerns of an aesthetic nature are relegated, for the most part, to the background for the benefit of formative aspects. The varied nature of these is broad enough for this objective to overshadow any other: the study and deepening of a certain articulation, a fingering, the differentiation of sound planes or purely agogic aspects, are in themselves sufficient, for what they allow the unconcern for other problems related to the pure compositional technique.
All the works that make up this concert are conceived as collections of pieces, which is in turn a common practice in pedagogical music of all times. Its interpretation in this concert, and in order not to exceed a reasonable duration for it, has led to the fragmentation of the works, through a careful selection of the pieces that make them up, except for the last two, which because they are world premieres will be performed in their entirety.
We thank the CDMC again for hosting this initiative, and without further ado I leave you with the concert, which we hope will be to your liking.
Thank you very much.