CHORAL ANTHOLOGY

JOAQUIM SERRA, CHORAL ANTHOLOGY

The relatively extensive catalogue of Joaquim Serra’s (1907-1957) composition work represents all the genres. Unfortunately, his early death at the age of 50 has deprived us of the magnitude that the evolution of his creative maturity foretold.

Joaquim Serra was a simple and affable man who was loved by everyone that he came across. As a musician, a brilliant composer and very good pianist, he was always renowned. He was born in Peralada (Alt Empordà). His father, Josep Serra i Bonal, composer of sardanas (traditional Catalan folk songs), influenced his inclination towards music and he showed great natural talent from a very early age. His precocious capability could be seen from his adolescence, when he wrote his first sardana at the age of 14, entitled La primera volada (The first flight). In later years, he composed extensively and consequently explored other forms of using the cobla (traditional Catalan brass band). Interestingly, his last work was a magnificent symphonic poem for cobla entitled Puigsoliu.

With this album, Clivis Publicacions, ever faithful to its laudable commitment to Catalan culture, concludes its publishing project dedicated to the choral work of Joaquim Serra. We can only regret that this selection is limited compared to his full catalogue. Nevertheless, it is very agreeable to once again consider the talent and the effects of his resources, where the treatment of voices reveals the experience of the maestros. They reveal beautiful and surprising contributions of harmonic colour and moving hues, built on structures that are very well adapted to the texts, featuring a noble and high quality.

The anthology incorporates songs originally written for male voices and others for mixed choirs. The songs written for male voices are also presented in the mixed choir version, undertaken with Manuel Oltra’s expertise (except for Capvespre, as the two versions were written by the com­poser). Three of the songs in the collection are traditional (from Aragon, Extremadura and Jaén) with simple, amusing arrangements that are bursting with freshness. Of the songs for mixed voices, we should highlight Capvespre (“nightfall”, with text by Carles Soldevila) and Idil^.li de la fruita galana (“Idyll of the beautiful fruit”, with text by Joan Maria Guasch), impregnated by the climate that these texts portray, especially the first - a very inspired piece that brushes perfection.

We don’t doubt that this publication will be well received in choral circles and that it will deservedly promote the knowledge and recreation of the songs it encompasses. 

Joaquim Serra was born in Peralada (Alt Empordà) in 1907 and died fifty years later in Barcelona. The son of Josep Serra i Bonal, he studied with his father, Lluís Millet and Enric Morera and he wrote his first sardana (a typical Catalan dance) in 1923. He won two "Concepció Rabell" awards, for Trio en mi (1926) and Variacions per a orquestra i piano (1928), in addition to various prizes at the "Sant Jordi" competitions, specifically for Impressions Camperoles (1926), La Fira, Glossa del ball de gitanes and La presó de Lleida.

He wrote approximately fifty outstanding sardanas, such as La primera volada (1921), Infantívola (1922), Tendresa, Joiosa, Rocaborba and Apassionada (all in 1936). Serra’s posthumous piece of work, Puigsoliu was the best of his symphonic poems.

In 1934, he was appointed artistic director of the Associació de Barcelona radio station. He gave a course on orchestration for brass bands in 1948, which he summarised in his book, Tractat d’Instrumentació per a cobla (Instrumentation for brass bands) in 1957.

Gestures

Gestures by Adrià Sardó

Prelude

Gestures are what the conductor uses to communicate with the orchestra and to be able to express what he feels about the music it is playing. We will not wax poetical about it. We will only talk about the gestures; we will not talk about styles nor will we give musical examples by established authors.

Gestures must be simple, clear and able to be understood by the orches­tra, and easy for the conductor to do, because his thoughts must send orders to the baton quickly, whether he is conducting a symphony in which he is the performer, or whether he is accompanying a violin or piano con­certo or a singer, in which case the conductor accompanies the soloist.

Facial expression also helps gestures, which shows us that we need to adjust our entire body, in other words, we need to adapt it so that it goes with the music:

People do not speak about gestures very much, I think it is something that is greatly ignored, and this can be seen and heard when the conduc-tor’s gestures do not correspond to what the orchestra is playing.

Whoever stands in front of a students' orchestra to conduct them and is not suitably trained or prepared, can do a lot of harm to the students and to himself. In fact, when conducting an orchestra there are two very stran­ge things: there are those who believe that they "do not need to learn" and there are also those who believe that they "can teach".