IGOA, Enrique: Pórtico de la Quimera, for Choir & Orchestra, 2009 (excerpt) by Enrique Igoa

Pórtico de la quimera op. 50 (2009) is the result of a commission from the Fundación Autor and the AEOS (Asociación Española de Orquestas Sinfónicas) for the Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid (ORCAM), on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Isaac Albéniz. My particular tribute to the great composer has materialized in two ways. On the one hand, the work includes a musical cite (somewhat altered) of La Vega of Albéniz, which is heard twice in the voices of the Choir of soloists accompanied by a string quartet. However, most of the creation tries to evoke part of the literary and geographical environment in which Albéniz moved. For this I have chosen a sonnet of Stéphane Mallarmé (Paris and French symbolism), sung by Chorus I and accompanied by string and woodwind, with more specific interventions of piano and metals. On the other hand, the poem Pórtico by Rubén Darío (whose figure evokes Spain, Latin America and modernism) is recited rhythmically or freely and finally sung by Choir II, accompanied basically by percussion and piano.
The two texts are alternated throughout the pages of the work, creating two very different styles that are only reconciled in the final section, as well as in the name of the work, taken from the title of Dario's poetry (“Pórtico”) and a key word in the second verse of Mallarmé (“Chimère”). The third place associated with our composer, London, is represented more symbolically by the possible influence that has had on the conception of my work the reading of the masterpiece of T.S. Eliot - The Waste Land - whose fragmented universe and at the same time sprinkled with symbolic and emotional references impregnates the open form of Pórtico de la quimera. The work is dedicated to José Ramón Encinar.

Recording: Radio Clásica de Radio Nacional de España * CD Nueva
Creación Sinfónica 5 – Fundación Autor & AEOS, 2011