Home / Works / Rapsòdia catalana (red.)

Delivery in 24h-72h (Peninsula work days)

Rapsòdia catalana (red.)

Violonchelo y Piano

BLANCAFORT, Manuel

Reg.: B.3807

21,00 €
P.V.P. (VAT included 4%) Add to cart

  • Ensemble: Duos: With piano.
  • Genres: Classical / contemporary: Chamber; Symphonic.
    Folk music / traditional: Popular songbook.
  • Language of the comment: Spanish, Catalan, English
  • Product format: Partitura + particellas
  • Difficulty level: Advanced-superior
  • Period: 2nd half S. XX - XXI
  • Publishing house: Editorial Boileau
  • Collection: Siglo XXI
  • No. of pages: 48+12
  • Measure: 31,00 x 22,60 cm
  • Lenght: 27'
  • ISMN: 979-0-3503-3560-0
  • Available in digital: No
  • Available for rent: No

Although the Rapsòdia catalana [Catalan Rhapsody] for cello and orchestra was composed in 1952 and awarded the I Premi Ciutat de Barcelona [1st City of Barcelona Prize] in 1966, it was not premiered until June 10, 1972 with cellist Ernest Xancó and the Orquesta Ciudad de Barcelona directed by Luis Antonio García Navarro. 

The complex history of this work, from its composition to the premier performance almost twenty years later, was commented on by the composer in a letter written to María Canals: “[...] Now I have presented the Rapsòdia catalana for cello and orchestra for the prize given by the Town Hall. It is already thirteen years old. It spent two years in the hands of Ferrer, but with all that went on in the Municipal it was returned to me in its virgin state”. [Letter to María Canals, November 13, 1966]. 

This work, approximately 24 minutes long, was the composer’s first and only experience composing a work for cello soloist with orchestra. As the composer recalled, this work continues the same style as the Concierto ibérico [Iberian Concerto] (1946) and the Cuarteto de Pedralbes [Pedralbes Quartet] (1949), both of which are based on popular themes and moods. The Rapsodia was the work that utilized the greatest number of popular melodies. It did not include any original themes written by the composer but instead he utilized nine Catalan popular songs which he harmonized with subtle orchestration. 

Xavier Montsalvatge wrote about this work in La Vanguardia: “the Rapsòdia catalana is written in the same style as his symphonic works following the Civil War. This composition [...] is even more traditional than the previous ones due to the naturalness of its form, which is based on a series of quotations from nine popular Catalan melodies which are developed and repeated. The composer takes from these melodies their most intimate lyricism when he presents them in the cello and their most pure grace, principally rhythmic, in the orchestral accompaniment which forms a dialogue with the soloist. At times the orchestra dominates over the soloist in spite of the reduced instrumentation of the most sonorous instruments, especially the winds and percussion”. [X. Montsalvatge in La Vanguardia, June 13, 1972]

Prefaci / Preface / Prefacio 
Rapsòdia catalana
Biografia / Biography / Biografía

Kit Digital