Guillermo Garcia-Calvo and Orquesta Sinfonica de Barcelona Y Nacional de Cataluña – May 6, 2012 – RNE-Radio Clasica –
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Over to Spain this week for a concert by Orquesta Sinfonica de Barcelona Y Nacional de Cataluña, conducted by the extremely popular star-on-the-rise Guillermo Garcia-Calvo at the helm and recorded live by Radio Nacional España on May 6, 2012.
Much as I like to run historic concerts featuring celebrated artists of the distant and not-so-distant past, I love seeing what’s going on now. There’s a lot to excited about. You just have to dial-hop all over the world to get it. I make no bones about loving French and Spanish radio. I have, in my own weird way, fashioned this website after a combination of French Radio outlets – places you go where you hear the unfamiliar or the familiar played in new and enthusiastic ways and get turned on to things on a daily basis – whether it’s music or culture or history – places that keep the flames bright.
All that said – this is probably one of the more meat-and-potatoes concerts I’ve heard, but it’s no less refreshing to hear. Starting off the Schubert’s Overture In The Italian Style and then going to a performance by the Catalonian composer Carlos Baguer (1768-1808) – his Second symphony, which I admit to not being familiar with. The second half devoted to a performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s Invitation To The Dance (arr.Hector Berlioz) and closing with Schubert’s Symphony Number 3.
In case you’re just becoming familiar with Guillermo Garcia-Calvo – here’s a blurb from his website, FYI:
“In January 2011 Guillermo García Calvo made his opera debut in Spain with the premiere of Tristan and Isolde at the Teatro Campoamor of Oviedo, where he initiated the first release of the Ring des Nibelungen in the city of Oviedo in September 2013. The first opera of Wagner’s tetralogy, Das Rheingold, enjoyed an overwhelming success among critics and the public. In December 2009 Guillermo García Calvo conducted the new production of Macbeth at the Vienna State Opera standing in for Daniele Gatti, shortly after having celebrated his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with another new production in May 2009, La Cenerentola.
Guillermo García Calvo has always maintained a strong relation with the Vienna State Opera ever since he started working there in November 2004. He has conducted more than 200 performances at the renowned opera house, interpreting titles such as Macbeth (Première), Rigoletto, La fille du régiment, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, La traviata, L’elisir d’amore, Nabucco, La Sonnambula, Coppélia, The Nutcracker, Onegin, Don Quixote, Giselle, Mayerling, Anna Karenina, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake.
Born in Madrid in 1978 Guillermo García Calvo began his musical education at the age of seven. He concluded his musical studies at the University of Music in Vienna with a thesis on Parsifal and a performance of the Overture from Tannhäuser in the Großer Saal at the Musikverein. Between 2001 and 2002 he worked as assistant for Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra and in the summer of 2007 for Christian Thielemann and Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuther Festspiele. In March 2003 he celebrated his debut as opera conductor with a performance of Hansel and Gretel at the Schlosstheater Schoenbrunn.”
So there you go – nice concert all the way around – terrific band and Radio Nacional España do their customary top-notch job of recording on the fly (the concert was recorded live only a few hours earlier).
Hit the play button and relax.
