Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival (The netherlands)

The 9th edition of the world’s largest festival of original historic pianos from the 18th and 19th centuries, the Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival, took place from 8 to 22 August 2019. The Muzio Clementi Association of Barcelona was present with performances and presentations by Marina Rodríguez Brià and Joan Josep Gutiérrez.

CALENDAR

• August 8, recital by Marina Rodríguez Brià at the Luthermuseum in de Wittenberg, Amsterdam
• August 10, recital by Marina Rodríguez Brià at the Muziek Museum Zutphen, Zutphen 
• August 12, Sixth International Geelvinck Fortepiano Symposium with the participation of Marina Rodríguez Brià and Joan Josep Gutiérrez on behalf of the AMCB.  Muziek Museum Zutphen, Zutphen
• August 16, premiere of a Prelude & Fugue for pianoforte by Joan Josep Gutiérrez, performed by Michael Tsalka at the Luthermuseum in de Wittenberg, Amsterdam

Friday, July 19, 2019, the 19th recital “at home” was performed by Marina Rodríguez Brià on the piano table Clementi & Co. of 1824.

The program included works by Muzio Clementi and John Field, who had already studied with Clementi and traveled with him to Vienna and Russia, where he lived for more than twenty years and where he formed many pianists. It was he who called “nocturne” to pieces full of poetry, where the right hand generally makes the melody and the left accompanies with wide armonies with pedal, playing the piano already with a totally romantic style.

The sonata op. 34 no. 2 of Clementi is one of the most interesting and complex of this musician. Although it remembers us Beethoven, in 1795, he had not yet composed any symphony and was just beginning his first sonatas.

And finally, the attendees chose the work that closed the recital, from the repertoire that Marina Rodríguez will play at the Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival in Holland this August. Dussek? Cramer Marianna Auenbrugger? More Clementi? The assistants chose Marianna Auenbrugger.

The complete program was as follows:

MUZIO CLEMENTI (1752-1832), SONATA op.34 num. 2 en sol menor (1795)

• Largo e sostenuto
• Allegro con fuoco
• Un poco adagio
• Finale. Molto allegro

JOHN FIELD (1782-1837), NOCTURNE num. 5 en si bemol mayor

• Andantino

MARIANNA AUENBRUGGER (1759-1782). SONATA en Mi bemol mayor, 1st movement

• Moderato

Friday, May 31, 2019, the 18th recital “at home” was performed by Marina Rodríguez Brià on the 1824 square piano Clementi & Co.

The program was devoted to Marianna Auenbrugger and consisted of two sonatas:

1. Marianna Auenbrugger (1759-1782). Sonata in E flat major. Moderato, Largo, Rondo, Allegro.
2. Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). Sonata op. 8 no. 1 in G minor (1782). Dedicated to Marianna Auenbrugger. Allegro, Andante cantabile, Presto.

After the famous duel with Mozart in 1781, Clementi stayed a season in Vienna playing and giving classes. Among others, he probably had Marianna Auenbrugger as a disciple, young pianist and composer. Haydn was a teacher of her and admired her talents and that of her sister to whom he dedicated some sonatas. Marianna’s counterpoint teacher was Antonio Salieri. Mozart and other musicians also frequented the Auenbrugger’s house. Unfortunately, Marianna died in 1782 at age 23. Salieri published the only sonata written by the young woman, along with an Ode composed by himself in his memory. For his part, Clementi dedicated the Sonata Op.8 no. 1 to Marianna. Composed in minor key, the emotion contained in the themes and their treatment speak for themselves.

You can read an article by Joan Josep Gutiérrez Yzquierdo following this link.
You can also read a chronicle from Xavier Febrés on his blog following this link.

Sunday, April 7, 2019 at the Església Vella de Ribes

From left to right, Belén Cabanes, Marina Rodríguez and José de Udaeta.

Belén Cabanes and Marina Rodríguez had the privilege of playing with the great dancer, choreographer and castanet player José de Udaeta.

The three made more than thirty concerts in many of the main theaters in Europe.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of José de Udaeta and 10 years of his dissapearance. Sant Pere de Ribes pays homage by putting his name on the street that leads to the Castell de Ribes, where the artist lived.

Among other compositions they will interpret works by Clementi

On Friday, November 9, 2018, the exhibition Muzio Clementi, the Father of the Pianoforte, was inaugurated at the Municipal Music Conservatory of Barcelona. This exhibition, initially presented at the Palau de la Música Catalana within the framework of the Maria Canals International Music Competition, goes on for the first time as an itinerant exhibition and with the intention of reaching different spaces and audiences.

In front of a large attendance, among which many students of the conservatory, the attached to the Management Team, Cristina Morales, and the president of the Muzio Clementi Association of Barcelona, ​​Anna Cuatrecasas, indicated the importance of the event and thanked each part the interest and the effort to turn the project into a fact.

A luxury guest took part: Dr. Norbert Bilbeny, Professor of Ethics, in the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Barcelona. Dr. Bilbeny did a brief but profound talk on the meaning of music, in line with the musical phenomenology advocated by Sergiu Celibidache.

María Rodríguez Brià, curator of the exhibition, briefly reviewed the content of the exhibition and goes interpret two works by Clementi on the Bechstein piano that presides over the “Peixera” classroom in the conservatory.

RECITAL OF MARINA RODRÍGUEZ BRIÀ, piano.

The recital “CLEMENTI and FRIENDS” took place on Friday October 5, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. at the Chamber of the Atlants of the Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona, organized by the Muzio Clementi Association of Barcelona with the collaboration of the Royal Artistic Circle.

Marina Rodríguez performed the following program:

• Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). Sonata in G minor, op.34 no. 2
• Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812). Within a Mile of Edinburgh
• John Field (1782-1837). Nocturn in B flat major
• Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858). Le petit rien Varied romance
• Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). Sonata in C major, op.37 no. 1
• and as bis, the Six russian arias of Clementi

A full report of this recital can be read here (in catalan)

The concert of Marina Rodríguez is part of the cycle Our guests, from the Royal Artistic Circle.

On Sunday, September 30th, a recital by the piano and historical keyboards player Michael Tsalka ​​took place at the Museu de la Música de Barcelona, organized by the Muzio Clementi Association of Barcelona jointly with the Museum. Under the title “A different look to the roots of romanticism,” Tsalka made a tour of an unusual repertoire with special instruments: the Christian Zell clavicord (Hamburg, 1737) and the pianos Zumpe & Buntebart (London, 1776) and Miguel Slocker (Madrid, 1831). The concept of the program was based on piano composers precursors or prefiguring romanticism, such as Scarlatti, Clementi, Ries and Moscheles.

Once the program was finished, a surprise was still reserved. Tsalka invited the public to move to the museum hall where there is the piano by Frederic Mompou, in which he played a bis from this composer and another from Cécile Cheminade. With the assistants arranged randomly around the piano and in a cozy shadow, a special atmosphere was created that closed the recital with an unbeatable flavor.

The concert of Michael Tsalka opened the 2018-2019 concert season of La Música del Museu, Original Instruments in Bones Mans