For its traditional Christmas concert, at the beginning of 2006 the Community of Madrid Orchestra (ORCAM) asked me, through its musical artistic director, José Ramón Encinar, to compose a triptych of Christmas carols for choir and orchestra, leaving me full freedom. about their origin, leaving in any case discarded those that were going to be used by the other two composers whose works were to be performed in the same concert, José García Román and Alejandro Yagüe.
ORCAM and José Ramón Encinar at the Orchestra's headquarters in Madrid
From among the most popular I chose Pastores, venid (Shepherds, come), thinking that his cheerful character could serve very well for the end of the triptych. As the central number and as a slow tempo, it seemed appropriate to resort to El cant dels ocells (The song of the birds), which not really being a Christmas carol, but a popular song, both its theme (the joy of the birds at the birth of Jesus) and the enormous diffusion that it enjoys as a result of the adaptation for cello solo by Pau Casals and its inclusion in most of his concerts, have given it a very appropriate character for its use in Christmas festivities. And as a contrast, I searched for a cultured (that is, author's) origin for the first number, resorting to one of the most beautiful pieces by one of our greatest polyphonists of the 16th century: the villancico (or “villanesque”, to be more precise, because in any case it is from the word "villain" -rustic man, as opposed to noble or "nobleman"- from which both terms derive) for four voices Niño Dios de amor herido (Child God wounded with love), composed by Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) within the Canciones y Villanescas Espirituales collection, published in Venice in 1589. In this way, the conceptual structure of the triptych shifts from the cultured composition of Guerrero to the eminently popular Shepherds, come, going through an intermediate state in the that the popular origin of the Catalan song goes hand in hand with the cult treatment that Casals gave to it. Child God wounded with love, the first movement of the Three Christmas Carols, scrupulously respects the polyphonic work of Guerrero, which is inserted into a form of "varied choral" in which the melodic element of each of the verses is glossed by the orchestra, separating the interventions of the choir, in an eminently modal harmonic treatment.
Beginning of Niño Dios d'amor herido by Francisco Guerrero (1589)
In The song of the birds, and recalling the figure of Pau Casals, inseparable from this melody, it is a solo cello that leads the composition from the beginning to the end, following during his speech the different interventions of my harmonization for the choir of the Catalan popular song, placing in the central part a brief descriptive fragment in which first and second violins evoke "the song of the birds".
Lastly, Shepherds, come endorses the joyful and jubilant character of the popular Christmas carol, which after an introduction by the orchestra is exposed in the first and last sections of a ternary piece to which a slow and contemplative central part serves as a contrast.
Program of the premiere of Three Christmas Carols
The Three Christmas Carols are dedicated to Alicia Núñez, and were premiered at the Hispano-American Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy in Madrid on December 12, 2006, performed by the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid under the direction of José Ramon Encinar.
First page of the first movement of Three Christmas Carols
First page of the second movement of Three Christmas Carols
First page of the third movement of Three Christmas Carols
Liebre por gato
Por Andrés Ibáñez
(Crítica publicada en el diario ABC. Madrid, 16 de diciembre de 2006)
What a great programming success! A Christmas carol concert for all audiences or a contemporary music concert for all audiences? The two things at the same time. The Hispano-American Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy is immense: architectural brutalism, concrete everywhere and an altarpiece made up of large rusty metal pieces and hanging chains under which the music sounds intimidating, little helped by acoustics that tend to highlight individual details and to blur ensembles, and in which the chorus sounds strangely remote. A Telemadrid crane the size of a young diplodocus, sporadic light effects, multicolored pop glomeruli and a sudden blackout that forces José Ramón Encinar to stop one of the pieces and start over.
The music, excellent. Sumptuous versions for choir and large orchestra of popular Christmas carols (by Carmelo Bernaola, Turina and Yagüe) and an original Christmas carol by José García Román, who also contributes a version for choir and orchestra of two salads by Mateo Flecha. Thought: that perhaps the two most defining and influential musical works of the 20th century have been Pulcinella and Webern's orchestration of the musical Offering fugue. Because where does the "tradition" begin and the "avant-garde" end? The "Three Christmas Carols" by José Luis Turina are the intellectual peak of the night, fascinating deconstructions of popular songs and polyphony by Francisco Guerrero, rhythmic and harmonic decompositions and recompositions of pre-existing music. [...]
Brilliance, brilliance, beautiful contributions of individual voices from the choir, gongs, marimbas and rain cane, passion and exactness in the direction of José Ramón Encinar. What more could you ask for?