Concerto De Aranjuez

The Concierto de Aranjuez is a concert for guitar and orchestra, composed by Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999) in Paris in 1939 .

This Spanish composer made this piece the guitar in classical music "concert worthy." The first performance took place in the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona on November 9th 1940 and was conducted byRegino Sainz de la Maza . [1] He was accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Barcelona with the conductor César Mendoza Lasalle . The Concierto was an instant success. In Madrid it was performed for the first time on February 12, 1941.

The concert consists of three parts, Allegro con Spirito , Adagio and Allegro gentile . The guitar is accompanied by a flute, a piccolo , an oboe , an English horn , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , twotrumpets and strings .

Palace of Aranjuez

When Rodrigo in 1939, the piece began writing, he was still in Paris. In his experience the rich Spanish culture seemed to disappear as a result of the civil war that raged in his homeland. Therefore, he tried to capture elements of that culture in its composition. He refers in its title to the glorious past of the Spanish kingdom: Aranjuez, 47 km south of Madrid, was once the summer residence of the Spanish kings. Rodrigo himself lived here a period.

Three parts
The Concierto consists of three parts: Allegro con spirito, Adagio and Allegro gentile.

In the first movement, Allegro con Spirito, is the rhythm of flamenco to recognize.

The Adagio, the slow second movement is typical of the slow measure and the quiet melody, introduced by the English horn, gently accompanied by guitar and violins. There is an atmosphere of quiet regret in the whole piece. The melody getting into the course gradually more ornamentation. An atonal sound of the guitar brings the first sense of tension in the piece. Slowly growing tension and continuously, but sometimes relaxes in the melody. But then the climax begins construction. This is reflected in the thematic melody - molto appassionato - by the violins and woodwinds. The piece dissolves into a calm guitar arpeggio, although actually the violins in the background creating the heavy lifting to the final of the piece.

In an interview (1995)  Bill McLaughlin with Pepe Romero Romero tells what Rodrigo him on this second part, the Adagio, reported:
 * Rodrigo spoke not like about it, and he did not really tell what was the true background. Aranjuez was composed at the height of Rodrigo's life. The couple had just lost their first baby. The whole second part is about his way of talking to God. And then you have cadence that endures and is taken over by the orchestra. This rhythm never stops and imagines life, and Rodrigo's connection and awareness of life.
 * The melody, initially with the English horn, then guitar, then adopted by all the individual instruments incorporating a culmination of a huge tutti (all instruments together) and imagines all sorts of feelings that runs Rodrigo: the love for their child, the love his wife, his plea to God to let life then at least Its name ... His wife Victoria Kamhi had during and after childbirth also in danger wrong.

The third movement, Allegro gentile has a mixed size, and ranges between two-four and three-quarter time . This cheerful gebuitel decision about the 22-minute piece.

The Concierto is the first work of Rodrigo composed for guitar and orchestra. Such instrumentation is unusual: it is rare for the guitar as a single instrument the enormous power of a full orchestra challenging. Still, the guitar is never overwhelmed by the orchestra, the solo continues throughout the composition stand by.

The Concierto de Aranjuez was often recorded. Julian Bream and Narciso Yepes put the piece four times on the record, John Williams three times and Paco de Lucía did this once. Also Jan Akkerman took it.Generally people prefer the implementation of Pepe Romero .

The Concierto by Rodriguez himself was adapted for harp and orchestra and dedicated to Nicanor Zabaleta . The harpist Marisa Robles took this version. There is a vocal version, of, inter alia, Teresa Berganza .Furthermore, Walter Feybli and Daniel Erni entered an arrangement for two guitars. The album Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis is an orchestration of Gil Evans trumpet. The Spanish group Los Mayas reached in August 1971 in tenth place with the number in the Dutch Top 40, which is rare in classical composition.

The most famous piece of the composition is the Adagio; The melody is often used in films, series and commercials and is recognized by many people.

The second part Rodrigo provided the theme for another composition, En Aranjuez con mi amor . This composition is in the light music became known, and by Richard Anthony , Nana Mouskouri and others run asAranjuez, Mon Amour. In 1995 wrote Helmut Lotti, the English text All my life to this song.