Notes and Editorial Reviews
Daring and energy are the two basic elements with which Leonardo Balada approaches his very personal compositions. This total musician has blended his strong vocation with his teaching since 1970 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he is University Professor of Composition. He started his piano and theory studies in his native Barcelona, finishing in 1953. Then he studied composition at the New York College of Music and the Juilliard School. The fact that he finished his studies in 1960 could suggest that he was part of the so-called "generation of `51" of Spanish composers. Because of geographical distance he did not participate in the early activities of that group, which was so important to the Spanish music of the
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sixties. This does not mean he did not identify with them esthetically and ideologically. At the beginning, his compositional direction did not conform to that of his contemporaries, who generally followed the paths of Paris or Darmstadt. The almost obligatory twelve-tone style was not attractive to him. Having left the European continent allowed him the possibility of approaching other musical languages. This he did as one will hear in the broad selection of his orchestral music presented on this disc. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Symphony no 4 "Lausanne" by Leonardo Balada
Conductor:
Jesús Lopez-Cobos
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1992; USA
2.
Sinfonia concertante for Electric Guitar and Orchestra "Persistencies" by Leonardo Balada
Performer:
Narciso Yepes (Electric Guitar)
Conductor:
Leonardo Balada
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1972; USA
3.
Symphony no 1 "Sinfonia en negro - Homage to Martin Luther King" by Leonardo Balada
Conductor:
Enrique Garcia-Asensio
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Spanish Radio/TV Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1968; USA
4.
Symphony no 2 "Cumbres" by Leonardo Balada
Conductor:
Richard Strange
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Carnegie Mellon University Symphonic Band
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1972; USA
Sound Samples
Symphony No. 4, "Lausanne"
Sinfonia en negro: Homage to Martin Luther King, "Symphony No. 1": I. Opresion (Oppression)
Sinfonia en negro: Homage to Martin Luther King, "Symphony No. 1": II. Cadenas (Chains)
Sinfonia en negro: Homage to Martin Luther King, "Symphony No. 1": III. Vision (Vision)
Sinfonia en negro: Homage to Martin Luther King, "Symphony No. 1": IV. Triunfo (Triumph)
Cumbres, "Symphony No. 2"
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