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Joaquim Homs (1906_2003)


Soliloquio / Soliloquy

For Piano


Commentary
Recording
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Commentary


In 2004 I received from the pianist Jordi Masó the proposal to compose a short piece for piano for a recording project to commemorate the centenary in 2006 of the birth of the Catalan composer Joaquim Homs (1906-2003), together with 20 more pieces with similar characteristics of as many other Spanish composers.

Pianist Jordi Masó (1967)

The result was Soliloquy (title taken from Homs's own catalogue, with which he named no less than twelve compositions written throughout the 1970s), lasting just over three minutes, in which instead of starting from direct material from the composer to gloss it as a tribute, I do so based on the popular song that he obtained as the theme of the Variacions sobre un tema popular català, for piano, from 1943, but instead of using it in its original form, it is barely recognizable when subjected to rigorous retrogradation, one of the resources of the twelve-tone technique that Homs used so thoroughly throughout his work.

Popular song that serves as the basis for the Variacions sobre
un tema popular català
by Joaquim Homs (1943)

Main theme (the retrograded folk song) from Soliloquy

Soliloquy consists of three sections, in which the retrograde Catalan theme is elaborated piano-wise in the first and last sections, the central one serving as a rhythmic and character contrast.
Along with Record, by Homs himself, and the other 20 works that were part of the project, Jordi Masó's recording of Soliloquy was included in the CD In memoriam Joaquim Homs, by the Anacrusis label, which was released in 2006, the centenary year of the composer's birth.

Front and back cover of the Jordi Masó's CD
In memoriam Joaquim Homs (Anacrusis, 2006)


First page of Soliloquy



Recording


Recording: Jordi Masó



YouTube link



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(Score without watermark available at www.asesores-musicales.com )