First press review of Concierto de Aranjuez, by Xavier Montsalvatge

A work by Joaquín Rodrigo heard for the first time.

 

...The innovation lies not only in the dialogue between the vihuela and the orchestra, unprecedented to date, but in something more. The scoring for the guitar -according to Regino- is also technically unprecedented, in the same way that the beauty, the construction and the musical procedures of this smalll gem are unheard of, at least since the creation of Manuel de Falla's Concierto para clavicémbalo y orquesta.

Rodrigo's workd shows primarily... great personality of composition. It is really comforting to listen in this case to Spanish music that is free of any influence, even that which emanates from our own land, without in any way trying to break the strong ties linking it to our most profound tradition... On the contrary, we are in presence of music which, like Falla as previously mentioned, brings a luminous solution to the problem of expressing national identity in the art of sounds. No one can deny in Rodrigo's works the existence of a diffuse southern radiance and an ancestral force that is Spanish to the core, projected outwards towards European music and much more effective than that of many works of apparently national seasoning but with narrow foundations, provincial or even local perspectives. And no one can find limitations in the language employed in this music, which is rich and novel in a universally intelligible manner.

The first movement of the Concierto is the one most stepped in the essence of the land. The pronounced rhythm of bulerias, written without the slightest departure from the strictly academic form, sirves as background. The central part is a delightful andante, with an austere theme in the classical manner in which the guitar and the English horn compete in sweet emulation.

This is one of the most blessed passages in the work. The last part returns to lively rhythm and flavourful popular cadences, coming to a perfect conclusion for the Concierto, which on a whole is small in dimensions, but as well proportioned and perfect as a small neoclassical palace.

Extract from the first press review of Concierto de Aranjuez,
Published in Destino, signed by Xavier Montsalvatge, December 1940.