Joaquin Rodrigo, 1902-. Concierto in Modo Galante. Completed 1949, first performance 1949, in Madrid. Scored for solo violoncello, 2 each flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets, and strings.
The Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo is best known in this country for his guitar concerti, especially the Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un gentilhombre, which is appropriate because the concerto form has always been one of his specialties. To date, he has written twelve works in the form, though it is dangerous to cite a precise number because even at 94 he continues to produce new material, perhaps having failed to notice that he reached a respectable retirement age even before man walked on the moon.
Though Rodrigo's concerti are dominated by the guitar, they also include works for flute, piano, harp, and 'cello. The Gallant Concerto is the first of two for the latter instrument, written at the request of Gaspar Cassadó, who promised the composer, ``I would play it everywhere, I would record it, and I would see that it was published in Paris.'' Rodrigo took only a few months to fulfill the request, and when he heard the themes, Cassadó offered to write the score from dictation himself (the composer, blind from the age of three, is dependent on others to commit his works to paper). During the summer of 1949, the two would often work together until the wee hours, sometimes by candlelight due to power restrictions.
After the Madrid première, a year passed before a second performance could be arranged in Rome. Although it was well-received, Cassadó began to feel that it was too long, and soon began deleting passages that he thought unnecessary (usually portions where there was nothing for the soloist to do). When it came time to publish the score, this caused great difficulty for the composer's wife, Victoria Kamhi de Rodrigo, to whom fell the task of restoration.
Although it is a relatively early work, the present concerto represents something of a break with the style of the earlier guitar concerti, experimenting with modern harmonies that may seem harsh at first hearing. Yet a careful listener will soon be charmed, for Rodrigo wastes no time in demonstrating the abilities that make him not only one of the foremost Spanish composers, but also one of the most talented composers of the Twentieth Century.
© 1996, Geoff Kuenning
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