El Lament de la Terra Albert Guinovart, Orquestra Simfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya & Diego Martín-Etxebarria

• Albert Guinovart (b. 1962)
• 1 El Lament de la Terra 18:18
• 2 Concierto para Piano y Orquesta No. 3, "Les Mans del Vent": I. Allegro 14:01
• 3 Concierto para Piano y Orquesta No. 3, "Les Mans del Vent": II. Adagio 09:28
• 4 Concierto para Piano y Orquesta No. 3, "Les Mans del Vent": III. Allegro 06:56
• 5 El Somni de Gaudí 20:54
• Total Runtime 01:09:37

Info for El Lament de la Terra

Commissioned by the OBC (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya) in 2008, the score is also dedicated to this prestigious orchestra. Premiered 9th January 2009 by the OBC directed by Roberto Minczuk at the Auditori de Barcelona.

This work is a symphonic poem about the idea of men mistreating the earth. It is not divided into movements, but there are three distinguishable thematic parts. The first part is longer and handles the topic of the “creative and romantic” men (symbolised by the first meter of “The Song of the Earth” by Gustav Mahler) getting into a conflict with the “destructive” men (symbolised by musical tunes with a military and urban touch). This part ends with a cataclysm symbolised by means of a dodecaphonic chord.

The second part is shorter and represents the desert musically, nothingness after a cataclysm. It is a textural part.

The third and last section is a chant for the hope of a better future. The military rhythm of the beginning becomes the accompaniment of this hymn for hope.

Orquestra Simfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya
Diego Martín-Etxebarria, conductor

Diego Martin-Etxebarria
Recently appointed Principal Resident Conductor of the Chemnitz Opera House, he served as Principal Resident Conductor and Deputy Music Director of the Opera Houses in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach between 2016 and 2020. Diego Martin-Etxebarria first came to international attention when he was awarded First Prize, the Hideo Saito Award and the Asahi Award at the Tokyo Conducting Competition in 2015.

Highlights of the season 2020/21 include Mozart's "Bastien und Bastienne" at the Theater Chemnitz aswell as symphonic concerts and opera galas with the resident orchestra Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie, also the debut at the City of Granada Orchestra concert serie.

Music Director of the Euskadiko Ikasleen Orkestra in 2007 and 2008 and the Akademisches Orchester Freiburg between 2010 and 2012, he has been invited by orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, Osaka Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic Kansai Philharmonic, Osaka Symphony, St. Petersburg State Capella Symphony, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, Euskadi Symphony, Galicia Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, Tenerife Symphony, Málaga Philharmonic, Oviedo Philharmonia, Vallés Symphony, among others.

In the operatic field, he has conducted Paul-Heinz Dittrich's Die Verwandlung and Die Blinden at the Berliner Staatsoper; Puccini's La Bohème at the Theater Augsburg, Donizetti's Don Pasquale in Terrassa; Donizetti's Rita at the Volksbühne in Berlin; Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore in Vigo, Ourense and Pontevedra; Montsalvatge's Puss in boots at the Teatro Real in Madrid; Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Kleines Haus Dresden; Bizet's Carmen at the Santa Florentina Festival, Adés' Powder Her Face at the Arriaga Theater in Bilbao; Llorca's Tres sombreros de Copa at the Teatro La Zarzuela (Madrid) Tempesta Esvaïda at the Fortuny Theatre in Reus; Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Menotti's The Consul, Verdi's Nabucco, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, Offenbach's Orphee aux Enfers and Kálmán's Die Faschingsfee at the Opera Houses in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach.

He has recorded the CD "Intimitats"; with award-winning music by composer Marc Timón, the lyric comedy La Viola d'Or by Enric Morera (Enderrock Award for Best Classical Album Review 2016), the DVD "Sinfokids" at the head of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra and the short opera by Joaquim Serra Tempesta esvaïda conducting the Camera Musicae Orchestra. The brand new recording by renowned catalan composer Albert Guinovart with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra will be soon released.

Martin-Etxebarria began his musical studies at the Conservatories of Amurrio and Vitoria and graduated in orchestra conducting at the University of Music of Catalonia (ESMuC). He was granted by the Humboldt Foundation and the DAAD-La Caixa for post-graduate studies in opera conducting at the Hochschulen in Weimar, Dresden and the Academia Chigiana in Siena with Gianluigi Gelmetti. Other conductors who have influenced his career include Riccardo Frizza, Donato Renzetti, Dima Slobodeniouk, Christopher Seaman, Jesús Lopez Cobos, Titus Engel and Lutz Köhler.

This album contains no booklet.