Sibbe Live!: Impresiones Ibéricas – Spanish music with cello and guitar

Please remember that the museum card is not accepted as a means of payment!

Santeri Rautiainen, guitar, Katariina Selenius, cello

Programme:

Federico Mompou (1893–1987): Impresiones íntimas(1911–1914) *

Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909): from the collections Cantos de España op. 232 och Suite Española op. 47 *

Enrique Granados (1867–1916): Valses poéticos(1893–1894) *

* Arranged for cello and guitar by Santeri Rautiainen & Katariina Selenius

The concert program presents three late-Romantic composers of Catalan origin. Following the ideals of their time, Federico Mompou, Isaac Albéniz, and Enrique Granados were all not only composers but also accomplished performers of their own instruments—in their case, pianists. Each of them composed a substantial body of music for their primary instrument. In the 20th century, these works were firmly established in the classical music canon, particularly by pianist Alicia de Larrocha, whose repertoire served as inspiration for this concert program.

Mompou, Albéniz, and Granados were all cosmopolitan figures whose music reflects Spanish identity filtered through European influences. French Impressionism and sweeping German Romanticism, as well as contemporary composer-pianists such as Gabriel Fauré, Franz Liszt, and Erik Satie, have all influenced these composers to varying degrees. At the same time, they carry an unmistakable pride characteristic of Spanish music itself.

The works of these composers have been central to the development of the classical guitar, starting with the guitar innovator Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909) and his students. Arrangements of Albéniz’s works have enjoyed great popularity in the guitar concert repertoire. Andrés Segovia (1893–1987) continued this tradition by arranging Granados’s compositions as he expanded the guitar’s relatively limited repertoire. He also persuaded his contemporary Mompou to compose directly for solo guitar.

The musical language of Spanish music often sits naturally on the solo guitar. This starting point inspired the combination of cello and guitar in this program. Each of the composers in the program can be described as an insightful melodist and inventive harmonist. In solo guitar arrangements, compromises are often made at the expense of these elements. From an arranging perspective, the strength of Spanish music—its diverse influences and lyrical cantilena—practically calls for the cello to join the guitar, the national instrument of Spain.