A concert of some out-of-the-way music from the 20th century this week, as performed by Orquesta Sinfonica de Barcelona y Nacional de Cataluña, conducted by José Ramon Encinar. Recorded live in concert on March 28, 2010 and broadcast by Radio Nacional de España.
Beginning with Stravinsky’s Scherzo a la Russe (orchestra version) followed by Symphony No.1 by Henri Dutilleux followed by Helix by Torros, Berio’s Eindrünke and ending with Magnus Lindberg’s Parada.
Gotta admit, you don’t hear this lineup every day – but that’s much of what José Encinar does – in addition to the tried-and-true of the 19th century, Encinar has been very instrumental in promoting new works, as well as unfamiliar or seldom-played works of the 20th century. This concert is certainly one of them.
Here’s a snippet from his own website and his bio:
Commonly seen with all of Spain’s orchestras, José Ramón Encinar has also appeared at a multitude of concert venues across Europe and Latin America at the helm of a great number of formations, including Italy’s RAINational Symphony Orchestra, the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, the Arturo Toscanini Orchestra in Parma, the Verdi Orchestra in Milan, the London Symphony Orchestra, the English Bach Festival Orchestra, the Basle Symphony Orchestra, the Karlsruhe State Theatre Symphony Orchestra, the Argentine National Symphony Orchestra, the Mexican National Symphony Orchestra, the Venezuelan National Orchestra and Puerto Rico’s Casals Festival Orchestra, etc.
He has made over a score of recordings for various international labels, such as Naxos, Stradivarius, Glossa, Col Legno, Verso, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and the like.
His awards include the 1988 National Music Prize for composition, the CEOE Foundation Prize for musical interpretation, and the 2010 Madrid Regional Music Prize.
José Ramón Encinar is a numerary member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Madrid and a correspondent member of the Granada Academy of Fine Arts.
Among his works as a composer, special mention should be made of the opera FIGARO, based on his own libretto (1987), with productions in Madrid and Lisbon, the orchestral works MUSICA NOCTURNA (1985), PROYECTO (1992) and MISE EN SCENE (1994. CD Col legno), and the chamber music works CUM PLENUS FOREM ENTHOUSIASMO (1975), OP.23 (1978), IL LA MANGIO CON LE MANI (1985) and ALMOST ON STAGE (1985). These have been performed during various concert seasons and at specialised festivals, such as the Royan, La Rochelle, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Alicante, Venice Biennale, Musica del nostro tempo (Milan), Warsaw Autumn and London Almeida festivals, among others.
José Ramón Encinar’s conducting activity straddles both the symphonic and operatic fields. Ranking high among his achievements are début performances of a good number of symphonic, chamber and lyrical works, including three of Luis de Pablo’s operas, and works by Yannis Xenakis, Franco Donatoni, Goffredo Petrassi, Cristóbal Halffter, Bruno Ducol, Joao Pedro Oliveira, Francisco Guerrero and a long list of young Spanish composers.
In the recording sphere, attention should be drawn, on the one hand, to his devotion to the more traditional repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries (Ravel, Falla, Rodrigo, Chapí, Albéniz, Barbieri) and, on the other, to his commitment to the dissemination of contemporary music on numerous Italian (Stradivarius) and Spanish labels (Verso, Autor, Glossa), e.g., monographic albums dedicated to Luis de Pablo, Francisco Guerrero, Gabriel Erkoreka, Massimo Botter, David del Puerto, Agustín Charles, etc.
Professionals of renown with whom José Ramón Encinar has collaborated include theatre directors such as Simón Suárez, Emilio Sagi, Francisco Nieva, José Carlos Plaza, Pierre Audi and Bob Wilson, and soloists of the calibre of Joaquín Achúcarro, Alicia de Larrocha, Aldo Ciccolini, Nikolai Luganski, Dmitri Demidenko, Jean Claude Pennetier, Akiko Suwanai, Viviane Hagner, Gerard Caussé, Bruno Giuranna, Peter Wiespelway, Asier Polo, Misha Maisky, Alain Meunier, Roberto Fabbriciani, Michel Portal, Felicity Lott, Carlos Alvarez, Ainoha Arteta, Barbara Hendrix, Dietrich Henschel, Jennifer Larmore, Stephan Margitta, Eva Urbanova, Sylvia Greenberg and José Bros.
If you want to read more, head over to his website and go exploring – in the meantime, sit back and hit the play button . . .and enjoy.
