Benjamin Alard & friends

Benjamin Alard & friends
—Falla and the Reinvention of the Harpsichord
Details
Exactly one hundred years after its premiere at the Palau de la Música Catalana, Manuel de Falla’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Five Instruments returns to the very hall where it was first performed. Benjamin Alard, well known to Palau audiences and one of today’s leading keyboard specialists, heads an exceptional ensemble featuring Miguel Colom, Fernando Arias, Álvaro Octavio, Ángel Luis Sánchez and Pablo Barragán. A unique opportunity to rediscover a landmark of twentieth-century Spanish music on the very stage where it was first heard.
The concert also marks the 150th anniversary of Manuel de Falla’s birth and creates a dialogue between past and present that extends to the contemporary music of José María Sánchez-Verdú. At its heart is a Falla who viewed tradition through radically modern eyes, transforming the harpsichord, an instrument associated with early music, into the protagonist of a new musical language.
Performers
Benjamin Alard, harpsichord and conductor
Miguel Colom, violin
Fernando Arias, cello
Álvaro Octavio, flute
Ángel Luis Sánchez, oboe
Pablo Barragán, clarinet
Program
T. L. VICTORIA-J. M. SÁNCHEZ-VERDÚ: Tantum ergo (arrangement for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello)
J. M. SÁNCHEZ-VERDÚ: Las ínsulas extrañas (for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello)
D. SCARLATTI: 4 Sonatas for harpsichord, K 159, K 461, K 208 and K 118
J. S. BACH: Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971
J. VÁSQUEZ-J. M. SÁNCHEZ-VERDÚ: De los álamos vengo, madre (arrangement for clarinet and cello)
M. DE FALLA: Concerto for harpsichord and five instruments*