Sinfonietta-Concerto (piano reduction)

In the summer of 2001 the International Festival of Santander celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate such an important event, the director of the Festival, José Luis Ocejo, commissioned several composers to write new works. At the most solemn moment during the closing concert, on this occasion dedicated especially to the memory of Ataúlfo Argenta, and just before Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Myung-Whun Chung, with the Accademia Santa Cecilia di Roma, performed Montsalvatge’s latest work, the Sinfonietta-concerto for flute and orchestra - strings with piccolo, harp and percussion-, dedicated to the magnificent virtuoso Jaime Martín from Santander. During the four wonderful movements of this work, Montsalvatge shows us a living art not only form-wise but in its emotional content, full of Mediterranean light, incisive and, also, a bit melancholic.