Repertoire

Bernat Vivancos: Organis Aurea (2021) 35’ – Commissioned work. World premiere
Edward Elgar: Nimrod (1899) 4’
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (1919) 29’

Artists

Barcelona Symphony Band
Asier Polo, cello
José R. Pascual-Vilaplana, conductor

Program

Bernat Vivancos presents a world premiere, and Asier Polo–one of today’s finest cellists–performs Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, two of the highpoints of this programme. Organis Aurea are verses from Goigs a Nostra Dona by Joan Brudieu, one of Catalonia’s most outstanding 16th century composers. Vivanco’s idea is to equate the symphony band with an organ, based on the similarity in how sound is produced by the band’s instruments and by the pipes of the ‘king of sacred music’.

Elgar’s Cello Concerto is one of the most important 20th century works for cello. Composed just as the First World War ended, as he was convalescing from an operation in the peace and quiet of his woodland home in Birchwood, Sussex, Elgar wrote a score conspicuous for its maturity, far removed from the cheer of previous works. It is a kind ‘requiem to war’, performed and recorded by some of the most important cellists of all time.