Gerhard: Don Quixote (complete ballet); Suite from Alegrías; Pedrelliana BBC Philharmonic & Juanjo Mena

• Roberto Gerhard (1896 - 1970): Alegrías Suite:
• 1 Gerhard: Alegrías Suite: I.Preámbulo 02:10
• 2 Gerhard: Alegrías Suite: II. Jácara 02:20
• 3 Gerhard: Alegrías Suite: III. Farruca 05:07
• 4 Gerhard: Alegrías Suite: IV. Jaleo 03:05
• Pedrelliana:
• 5 Gerhard: Pedrelliana 11:31
• Don Quixote:
• 6 Gerhard: Don Quixote: [Introduction] 00:30
• Don Quixote, Scene 1:
• 7 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 1: Don Quixote’s Room 00:53
• 8 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 1: Don Quixote’s vision of Dulcinea 03:04
• 9 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 1: Sancho Panza 00:55
• Don Quixote:
• 10 Gerhard: Don Quixote: Interlude I (The Plain of La Mancha) 00:52
• Don Quixote, Scene 2:
• 11 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 2: A Wayside Inn 03:01
• 12 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 2: The Vigil at Arms 01:31
• 13 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 2: The duel with the muleteer 01:31
• 14 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 2: The ‘knighting’ of Don Quixote 00:59
• Don Quixote:
• 15 Gerhard: Don Quixote: Interlude II 01:12
• Don Quixote, Scene 3:
• 16 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 3: The Plain of La Mancha - The Windmills 01:29
• 17 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 3: The village barber and his basin 02:13
• 18 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 3: The Golden Age 02:44
• 19 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 3: The galley-slaves 02:22
• Don Quixote:
• 20 Gerhard: Don Quixote: Interlude III 00:56
• Don Quixote, Scene 4:
• 21 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 4: The Cave of Montesinos 03:09
• Don Quixote:
• 22 Gerhard: Don Quixote: Interlude IV 00:33
• Don Quixote, Scene 5:
• 23 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 5: The Prison 03:23
• 24 Gerhard: Don Quixote, Scene 5: Dulcinea revealed as Aldonza 02:10
• Epilogue:
• 25 Gerhard: Don Quixote: Epilogue 03:32
• Total Runtime 01:01:12

Info for Gerhard: Don Quixote (complete ballet); Suite from Alegrías; Pedrelliana

The Catalan Roberto Gerhard studied piano with Granados, and was the only Spanish composer to study with Arnold Schoenberg. It was, however, over twenty years before he committed himself to writing twelve-tone music. In the interim, his output brought a new focus and precision (owing more to Stravinsky and Bartok) to the Spanish style. All the works on this album were composed in that period. Dating from the early 1940s, his ballet Alegrias was originally conceived for two pianos, but soon evolved into the four-movement suite heard here. The flamenco-inspired movements are linked in pairs, and show Gerhard's brilliance and humour in equal measure. During this same period Gerhard decided to mark the centenary of his first teacher, Felipe Pedrell (who had also taught Albeniz, Granados, and de Falla), with a three-movement symphony, Homenaje a Pedrell (CHAN 9693). Gerhard failed to secure a performance of the work, but in 1954 was invited to re-work the final movement for a BBC Symphony Orchestra concert, which became Pedrelliana. Gerhard's ballet on episodes from Cervantes's Don Quixote evolved for almost a decade, from a work for chamber orchestra, for a touring company (abandoned because of the war), via a version for radio and an expanded orchestral suite, to the work recorded here, in its full and final orchestration for performances at the Royal Opera House in 1950, choreographed by Ninette de Valois. Robert Helpmann danced the title role and Margot Fonteyn Dulcinea.

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Juanjo Mena, condutor

No biography found.

Booklet for Gerhard: Don Quixote (complete ballet); Suite from Alegrías; Pedrelliana