‘Symphonic Flamenco’. 2004 Barcelona Forum

Praise to orchestral flamenco

Ezequiel Paz. Barcelona, June 30th, 2004

‘Flamenco Sinfónico’ (‘Symphonic Flamenco’): ‘El amor brujo’ and ‘Cante y orquesta’. Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona and National of Catalonia. Cante: Miguel Poveda and Ginesa Ortega. Guitar: Chicuelo. Choruses: Encarna Anillo, Mercedes Cortés and Mónica Navarro. Baile: Israel Galván. Conducting and arrangements: Joan Albert Amargós. 2004 Forum. L’Auditori. Barcelona, June 30th, 2004. 9 p.m.

The Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona and National of Catalonia (OBC) has laid heavy stakes in fusions. Wherever you go they are taking shape under the recognizable and nearly ubiquitous mark of the Barcelona Culture Forum. Following its controversial, for unimpressive, participation in the inauguration of Sónar - a progressive music festival -, together with Ryuchi Sakamoto as DJ and crammed into electronic vestments, the OBC rested on familiar grounds this time and worked hard in a double program beside cantaores Ginesa Ortega and Miguel Poveda, guitarist Juan Gómez ‘Chicuelo’, bailaor Israel Galván and composer Joan Albert Amargós, who conducted the orchestra.

Ginesa Ortega in 'Flamenco Sinfónico' with the OBC
(Photo: Ezequiel Paz)

This is not the first time that the Catalans Miguel Poveda and Ginesa Ortega have baked the most orthodox flamenco in outside molds. Poveda, besides having recently released the suite for cante and chamber orchestra ‘Poemas del exilio. Rafael Alberti’ by Enric Palomar, had already performed together with Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. Ginesa has even converted pieces from the pop and reggae worlds into flamenco. As far as Amargós, he is considered to be one of the forerunners of new flamenco and personifies the most coherent example of the cultured composer fond of popular forms. His works, from contemporary to pop, are subsumed in the flamenco world.

Honoring the title ‘Symphonic Flamenco’, the first part of the performance was dedicated to Manuel de Falla and ‘Amor Brujo’, perhaps his most emblematic work, which he composed in 1915 at the request of Pastora Imperio. Here Ortega proved sure in the cante and recitation of the libretto of the original work with some lyrical additions from Federico García Lorca. The orchestra welcomed the performance willingly with distinction, aware of the superior role that the composer conferred to her task and which must be read as the synthesis of the popular gypsy, oriental and French tradition which Falla himself personified by origin.

‘Cante i Orquestra’, the second part of the concert, is conceived as a flamenco suite with eight movements in which the orchestra exalts the beauty of tangos, seguiriyas, alegrías and tientos. Amargós vindicates the suite's three-fold authorship, in which Chicuelo composes, Poveda versifies and he himself arranges and adorns. The passing from the traditional flamenco group to the orchestra, however, proves not to be an easy task, especially when the tessituras of the choruses - well-done by Encarna Anillo, Mercedes Cortés and Mónica Navarro - seemed to be stopped up by the wind instruments in certain passages. Chicuelo's guitar came across similar problems when it had to coexist with the OBC's harp and piano. These little inconveniences, however, did not tarnish the staging of a suite destined to be remembered in the now long symphonic undertaking of Amargós - let us recall, among others, ‘Concert per Clarinet i Orquestra’, ‘Los Tarantos’, ‘Réquiem Flamenco’ and the new ‘Sonanta suite’ with Tomatito.

The suite was opened with the martinete ‘De querer a no querer’. Poveda sang his part seconded by a highly-inspired Israel Galván, stringing together foreshortenings and figures in slow motion, showing that his baile based on rhythmical upsurges and firm impulses is coming along well day by day. It was followed by ‘Romance de la dulce queja’, a dream with the harp, guitar and wind instruments upon which verses of the most unruly Lorca whimsically glide.

Perhaps the greatest moment of solo refinement came with the bulerías entitled ‘A Tres’. While Chicuelo pitted himself in an ecstatic duel against the first violin and Poveda did the vocal counterpoint, the orchestra stood aside by the very decision of Amargós, who considers it extremely difficult to train a symphony orchestra in this fundamental style. ‘Entre la espuma y la sal’, through alegrías, and ‘Dame la mano’, through tientos, closed the suite and displayed a Chicuelo mature in his toque, improvising on top of the measured orchestral phrasings which Amargós was able to contain elegantly from his baton.

With regards to the suite, the night before the performance Miguel Poveda made the following gibe: “Pure flamenco is marvelous, but it's likewise necessary to make it move forward with works like this one which enriches it and in passing pesters those with fixed ideas”. There you have it.

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