Cuestionario para el programa "Inventario de inventores" / Questionnaire for the "Inventory of Inventors" Program

Issued by Radio Clásica on February 16, 2010
Directed and Presented by: Marcos Castán



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Introduction

"I was born in Madrid almost 57 years ago, but I was conceived in Galicia, spent my childhood in Cáceres and my adolescence in Barcelona. My father, a painter and professor of Drawing in Secondary Education, moved to Madrid in 1970, which allowed me to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid and participate in the most active Spanish musical life of the moment. When I was in my early thirties, I grew a beard to compensate for my hair loss, and I have no intention of giving it up. I especially enjoy reading and greatly enjoy interacting with the new and excellent generation of Spanish musicians.
My name is José Luis Turina, and I am a composer."


Personal-Social Life

- How has composition influenced your life? Composition has taught me to organize my work, calculate time very well, and have a perception of life where immediacy is not the priority, but rather the reward of what can be achieved in the medium and long term.

- A childhood memory. We were five siblings and had to find ways to make a single room serve multiple purposes. For a while, I had to sleep in the studio where my father painted during the day. One night, as I got into bed, the painting my father was working on fell on me. Removing the oil paint from my face, hands, and head with turpentine has left a memory similar to Proust's famous madeleine every time I smell it.

- A person who has had a significant influence on your life. There have been several, both in terms of positive and negative influence. Since it would be unfair to leave names out, I prefer not to mention any.

- Do you remember when you decided to become a composer? When I realized I would never be able to play the violin, which was what I wanted most (consider that I started studying music at the age of 17, a very complicated age to start learning an instrument), and that if I wanted to dedicate myself to music, I had to choose a different path.

- The worst part of the profession. The slowness of the work, which requires many weeks, months, or even years to complete what may only last a few minutes. The best part is the pleasure of sitting in a concert hall to hear the result. So, one thing always compensates for the other.

- If you weren't a composer, what would you like to be? I have the fortune of practicing two professions, as a composer and as a teacher of a part of composition, such as Harmony. The latter provides me with a steady income that allows me to compose whatever I want, without any aesthetic or economic constraints. So I consider myself very fortunate.

- Is it easy for your partner, family, friends... to live with a composer? I don't think being a composer has caused me any specific problems due to that circumstance. The problems I've had (which have been many and very serious) are related to other very different causes, and I surely would have had them regardless of my profession. The reason is that I have tried to live my professional life in a non-neurotic way, fully integrated into my daily life. When my children were small, I liked having them play around the piano while I composed, and several works from that period were totally or partially composed in El Retiro Park, where I spent many hours with them.

- Human nature. "Wolves to others" or "noble savages"? I suppose both, and depending on which predominates more, each individual will respond socially. In any case, this question is more for a psychologist than for a composer.


Composing. Being a Composer Is...

- What qualities must a good composer have? Basically two: having good ideas and having good technique to develop them.

- What is inspiration (if it exists)? I suppose it's the term for an ideal state where favorable circumstances for creative work arise. I don't believe much in it as a priori, but I recognize that when these circumstances occur, the work is much more enjoyable.

- Do you have a general procedure when composing No; at most, a certain discipline and a lot of willpower to overcome the initial laziness, which is terrible.

- Do you find yourself in a special mental/physical state when composing? I feel the same as Lutoslawski did, and I was very comforted when I read it in a book of interviews with him: that I don't find any special pleasure in the act of composing. It's more of a self-imposition, which I accept with varying degrees of pleasure depending on the occasion. So the initial mood is always rather adverse. Therefore, training and discipline have been fundamental tools for me to develop my profession.

- Do you compose at the piano or with other instruments? I always compose at the piano when writing for piano, but I rarely use it when writing for other instruments or instrumental groups.

- What style/composer/piece from the past has served as a model and inspiration? Many and varied: Gregorian, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism, Impressionism... there are many references in much of my music, even in the titles (Fantasy on a Fantasy by Alonso Mudarra, Variations and variances on themes by Boccherini, Five preludes to a theme by Chopin, Variations on two themes by Scarlatti, etc.). I am firmly convinced that fighting against tradition is a lost battle, so I have always tried to achieve my own synthesis between tradition and modernity. The result has been better on some occasions than others, but it's always there in one way or another, even in my most seemingly advanced works.

- Can you define some "stages" in your compositional career? Maybe I could try, but I'll leave that task to experts in the field. I can say that more than "stages," in my case it would be about "genres" I've tackled continuously and simultaneously (scenic music, chamber music, symphonic, pedagogical, etc.), which run through all my possible stages. But this doesn't mean I have a more classical or academic stage and another more advanced or disruptive one, since I continuously oscillate between the two, even within a single work. That's why I prefer that creative psychoanalysis be done by an expert.

- Instrument or ensemble that currently interests you the most. Right now and always, the violin. Actually, my vocation when I started studying music was to be a violinist, not a composer; but starting very late (at 17) led me to give up instrumental practice, with which I never quite felt at home, for the "intellectual."

- A project you would like to realize. Continuing the translation of some works by Leonard B. Meyer that I consider essential and are not available in Spanish. A few years ago, I translated Emotion and Meaning in Music, Meyer's basic book, for Alianza Música, and now I would like to do the same with some other pending titles. Meyer is a fundamental author for understanding the psychoperceptive processes of music, and there is a lot written about it, but there's still a lack of bibliography in Spanish.

- An extramusical influence in your work. All those derived from language (both melodic aspects of speech and syntactic), which I have often used in vocal works (Musica ex lingua, Syntactic Disintegration of a Sonnet by Góngora) and purely instrumental ones (Six Metaplasms).


Reflections. Music is...

- Is there any extramusical meaning in music? Since music lacks semantics and is not referential, the meaning is different for each mind. Following Fubini, it might be more correct not to speak so much of "meaning", which is very questionable, but of "sense", which is undeniable. But we always insist on finding more in these questions, with little or no result, as expected.

- Why does music move us Because it directly impacts the entire chain of triggers that ultimately provoke feelings (even the time it takes to materialize is the same).

- Who should recognize the artist: himself, the public, critics...? Himself, fundamentally. Creating is an absolutely introspective and solitary act, so it's essential to believe in what you're doing. This doesn't mean that every artist doesn't enjoy being recognized in their social environment: public, critics, and also family and, of course, performers, without whom we would be nothing.

- Is music (/art) a vehicle for understanding reality? Possibly even more, as it opens the doors to a reality beyond what is purely perceptible through the senses.

- Any thinker (/school/theory) you particularly agree with in evaluating the musical (/artistic) phenomenon? There are several, notably Leonard B. Meyer and Enrico Fubini; and in terms of art in general, I've also been interested in the thoughts of Umberto Eco and Antoni Tàpies.

- To what extent can/should interpretation collaborate with creation? 100%. A work isn't good until a performer makes it their own. Except for a few exceptions I prefer not to remember, I consider myself very fortunate with the performers I've worked with. Nothing can replace the rapport between composer and performer in achieving a high-quality result.

- What should a concertgoer expect As a frequent concertgoer, I've learned over the years to approach a concert with a "neutral disposition", so that possible expectations aren't disappointed. That's difficult with repertoire programs, but it's not hard for me to do with new works. That's why I'm not sure if it's advisable to give too much prior information about what will be heard, as it excessively conditions the listening experience, or if it's better to offer it afterward to those interested. In my view, that should be the true role of criticism.

- Do you think a new common language in future music is possible? No. Moreover, I don't think anyone would be interested in that right now.

- Is a good composer (/artist) a good person? Relationship between art and ethics. It would seem it should be, but it's not a sine qua non condition, as the history of music includes several great composers who were also quite undesirable individuals.

Musical Current Affairs. Contemporary Music in Spain...

- What do you think of composition competitions? When they're aimed at young people, they're a good way to introduce interesting composers who might not otherwise be heard. In other cases, I don't think they have much value, to the point where I've participated in very few.

- Current state of relations with performers. Personally, very good. I don't think other composers can say the same, but in this case, I believe everyone gets what they deserve, and how you treat others will reflect how you're treated in return.


"Coda"

"All art involves a process of selection. Most of the time, when I start working, my objective isn't very precise. If asked at this moment what I want, I would have great difficulty answering; but I know well what I would precisely respond if asked what I don't want". (Igor Stravinsky, Musical Poetics, fourth lesson)

Recording

recording of the full program