VALENCIA. Music in the light presents a monographic CD dedicated to the band music of the composer from Llíria Miquel Asensi (1879-1945), one of the main disciples of Salvador Giner, with the title From the symphonic poem in the Valencian magazine.
This is the sixth CD in this collection and was recorded in December 2022 by the Young Symphonic Band of the Federation of Musical Societies of the Valencian Community, under the direction of Lidón Valer at the Castelar Theater in Elda.
The Música a la Llum program arises to collaborate with musical societies in the conservation, enhancement and dissemination of the splendid cultural heritage kept in their archives.
It is part of CaixaBank Escolta Valencia, an initiative launched in 2014 by CaixaBank, in collaboration with the Federation of Musical Societies of the Valencian Community (FSMCV) and the Valencian Institute of Culture (IVC), aimed at supporting Valencian musical societies and to promote musical and educational activity in the Valencian Community.
The CD presented includes pieces that reflect the different musical interests of maestro Asensi, such as the symphonic poem, the Valencian zarzuela and regionalist music (which he approached in collaboration with prominent writers such as Maximiliano Thous) or religious music. The decline of these last two genres partly explains the oblivion into which his work has fallen, despite its notable quality.
Among the recorded works, the symphonic poem ‘Brujas en la huerta’ (1927) stands out, considered his most outstanding piece, or the fox-trot of the zarzuela ‘Al lado del Río Madre’ (1919), known as ‘el fox de the chestnuts’, which was very famous in its time. Likewise, the ‘Funeral March No. 2’ (1906), performed only by the Unión de Llíria who generously donated it for the occasion, is a masterpiece of its genre.
Miquel Asensi
Miquel Asensi was a creator closely linked to the world of music bands. First member of the Primitiva de Llíria, where he learned music with his uncle Francisco Asensi, he later intervened in the creation of the Unión Musical, to which he became closely linked.
Although throughout his career he dedicated himself mainly to teaching, as a private teacher and at the Giner Musical Institute, in the last stage of his life he intensified his relationship with the bands and was director of the Artística Manisense de Manises, and of the Ontinyent band, which later became the Ontinyent Musical Artistic Union Society. In all of them he left original music and arrangements with the generosity that characterized him.
The scores have been obtained in different files. The societies Unión Musical de Llíria and Banda Primitiva de Llíria have collaborated, as well as the Musical Library of Valencian Composers of the Valencia City Council, which preserves a good part of Miquel Asensi’s legacy.
The Manisense Artistic Musical Society of Manises, the Ontinyent Musical Artistic Union Society, the Primitive Musical Corporation of Alcoy, the Municipal Band of València, and individuals such as Marcial García Ballesteros have also collaborated.
The musicians/musicians and researchers Carlos Miguel Pascual (Unión Musical de Llíria) and Miguel Cerezo (Banda Primitiva de Llíria) have written the text included with the CD.
Asensi Fund of the Ontinyent Musical Artistic Union Society
On the other hand, ‘Música a la Llum’ has also sponsored the inventory and organization of Miquel Asensi’s valuable collection held by the UAM of Ontinyent, the last band led by the maestro, who also died in the capital of the Vall d’Albaida, where a substantial part of his papers remained after his transfer.
Made up of more than one hundred manuscripts, many of them autographs of Asensi, the collection includes works for orchestra, band or voices and piano that were considered missing or for which there are no other known sources and, therefore, substantially increases the recovered heritage of this composer.
Among others, works for choir such as ‘Song in the Earth’, transcriptions for band of the suite ‘Peer Gynt’, by Edvard Grieg, of ‘Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2’ by Liszt, of ‘Granada’, by Albeniz, and ‘Danza no. 5’ by Granados, as well as zarzuela numbers such as ‘El amor en sidecar’, ‘A de chagant’ or ‘Lo fallero machor’.
2023-09-16 19:08:15
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