"Huir de la emoción es una aventura estéril" / "Fleeing from emotion is a fruitless adventure"

By Inmaculada García

(Interview published in the newspaper Diario de Sevilla. Sevilla, July 8, 2000)


Lorca, Alberti, and Machado have inspired part of his scores. With Ocnos, a work based on poems by Cernuda, he won the Reina Sofía Award. His unique blend of verse and music has given way to a new alliance involving opera and a chivalric book. Encouraged by La Fura, he is finalizing a version of Cervantes' classic, a 21st-century Quixote that Internet users will be able to access.

It was through the bearded influence of Valle Inclán that José Luis Turina jumped on the opera bandwagon. In 1980, he composed Ligazón, a lyrical work designed for a chamber orchestra, inspired by the work of the same name written by the master of esperpento. "When I composed it, I realized how complicated lyrical work was, so I decided to put it on hold. Still, my dream has always been to write operas because, for a composer, it has always been the pinnacle".
It took more than fifteen years for Joaquín Turina's grandson to return to this unfinished business, and he has done so with an ambitious project rooted in the Cervantine myth. Don Quixote in Barcelona is the title of the opera he composed after being approached by La Fura dels Baus, the production's promoter and responsible for its staging. Divided into three acts, it will almost certainly be co-produced by the Teatro de la Maestranza and the Liceo, where it will premiere in October.
"It has been a three-way collaboration: La Fura dels Baus, Justo Navarro -who wrote the libretto- and me. The approach and mutual suggestions have resulted in a gratifying and enriching experience". The poisoned darts that purist sectors of the lyrical world hurl at La Fura, accusing it of being "cursed", are dismissed by Turina. "The group operates on two levels: one more aggressive and another more civilized, where, for example, The Damnation of Faust is situated", one of three operatic projects the company has undertaken, along with The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and Atlantida.
"La Fura isn't going to spray water on the audience or smash cars; they simply incorporate a dazzling range of technical possibilities through multimedia effects. Cardboard props are boring, and directors now shy away from them".
It is precisely this capacity to break molds that underpins this new Don Quixote. "It's not an approach to the beloved Cervantine character. The most important thing is not the parody but the innovations that Cervantes introduces from a narrative point of view".
The curious adventures and antics that unfold during the ingenious knight's visit to the Cave of Montesinos find their absurd counterpart in the operatic version, where the character "is summoned to an auction where bids are placed on the book". This adventure ends in Barcelona, a city where the valiant knight attends an international congress centered on Cervantes' universal work, of which he is the undisputed protagonist.
These time jumps make Don Quixote, in Turina's view, a work close to today's reader. "Don Quixote is a character from the past who speaks in today's language". In line with this, he has chosen a contemporary musical style, "influenced by time". Two aesthetic worlds overlap in the score. "One is atonal, suitable for developing conflicts. The other consists of tonal arias, through which I want to convey to the audience the nostalgia that Don Quixote feels when he is dragged into the future". Emotion, indeed, is one of the traits critics highlight in the work of this composer. "Music is meant to evoke emotion. Fleeing from it in art is a fruitless adventure", asserts Turina, for whom the essential goal is "to achieve a balance between structural rigor and expressive quality".
Nods to other lyrical works, with which he "humorously" parodies the operatic genre, are among the resources he uses in this daring work. "It leaves some issues open that will be resolved when the production arrives, and, like in Faust, part of the score will be composed by internet users". This possibility is "sensational" for Turina, "as long as they are sensible moments, flashes suggested by the composers that will have to undergo a selection process".
This take on the Cervantine creation follows the one made this year by Cristóbal Halffter. The coincidence of both is justified by the importance of the character. "It's the end of the millennium. Contemporary art revisits ancient myths, and the quintessential Spanish myth is Don Quixote. Halffter and I contrast tradition and modernity. This is what distinguishes a virtual creation, which lacks this approach, from a contemporary one -one that looks to the future without forgetting the past".
But the similarities don't erase the differences. "Halffter and I approach the book differently. In his work, reflection on utopia is paramount; it is more meditative, while mine is more dramatic, with a greater focus on theatrical treatment. That's why his can be listened to as a cantata, and Don Quixote in Barcelona is impossible to conceive without staging".


A Musician with a Legacy

His surname influenced his foray into music. The grandson of Seville-born Joaquín Turina, he balanced his studies at the Conservatory with those in Philosophy and Literature, which he eventually abandoned to fully dedicate himself to composition. In 1978, he premiered his first work, Crucifixus, followed by Dead Ophelia, Beltenebros, Nostradamus, Depending on How You Look at It, and Fantasy on a Fantasy by Alonso Mudarra, among others. His work has been recognized with awards such as the Reina Sofía.