Interview with Tomás Marco
What is the inspiration behind "Brisa Marina", the guitar work you composed for CIGA 2024?
I was trying to achieve a calm and pleasant work, like a breeze coming from the sea on a calm and sunny day that evokes beauty and a certain state of intimate well-being.
How does your creative approach differ when approaching a piece for a competition, such as CIGA, compared to other reasons for composing?
It is not radically different, but for a contest you have to take into account the circumstances as well as the interpretive difficulties that should not be such that they impede personal expression but should not be too light either.
With such an extensive guitar catalogue, to what do you attribute this particular creative dedication to the genre?
Well, it has to do with an interest in the instrument and the relationship with performers willing to receive them.
Do you think it is more challenging to compose for guitar compared to other musical instruments?
Each instrument has its own characteristics, its advantages and its limitations and you have to know how to adapt the musical idea to what is unique to it. The guitar is a special instrument and must be treated especially.
Are there any new guitar projects you can tell us about?
I have just finished and premiered a guitar commission from Ibermúsica titled “Arroyos de luz”.
Outside the realm of guitar, but relevant today, how do you think artificial intelligence will influence the world of music composition?
It is still too early to know, but it will be both a help and a possibility of “forgery” in music of a medium level of quality. AI creating masterpieces is still truly far away, if it will ever happen.
Biography
Born in Madrid in 1942. Studies of violin and composition in parallel with high school and a degree in Law. He expanded his musical studies in France and Germany with teachers such as Maderna, Boulez, Stockhausen, Ligeti and Adorno. He also followed some courses in Psychology, Sociology and Performing Arts. In 1967 he was Stockhausen's assistant.
Awards: National Music Awards in 1969 and 2002, Gaudeamus Foundation (Holland) 1969 and 1971, VI Paris Biennial, Casals Centenary, Golden Harp, UNESCO Composers' Tribune, Music Prize of the Community of Madrid. In 2013 Gold Medal from the Superior Conservatory of Madrid and in 2014 Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts. In 2016 he was awarded the Ibero-American Tomás Luis de Victoria Prize and in 2018 the ADE Medal. He was Professor of New Techniques at the Superior Conservatory of Madrid and Professor of Music History at the National University of Distance Education. He has published numerous books and taught courses at institutions and universities in Europe and America. He has practiced music criticism in various media.
He worked for 11 years in the musical services of Radio Nacional de España, winning the National Radio Broadcasting Prize and the Ondas Prize. From 1981 to 1985, Director-Manager of the Autonomous Organization of the National Orchestra and Choir of Spain and between 1991 and 1995, Technical Director of the same groups. From 1985 to 1995 Director of the Center for the Diffusion of Contemporary Music, creating its electroacoustics laboratory and the Alicante International Festival, whose first 11 editions he directed. Since 1993, full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. From 1977 to 1996, Councilor of SGAE. In 1996, Director of Festivals of the Community of Madrid. From May 1996 to July 1999, General Director of INAEM. In 1998, Doctor Honoris Causa from the Complutense University of Madrid. Currently Director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
As a composer he is the author of 7 operas, a ballet, a zarzuela, 10 symphonies, choral music, chamber music, theater and audiovisual music, etc.
BRISA MARINA (Sea Breeze)
This work for solo guitar was written in 2023 at the request of the Alhambra Guitars Foundation for the 2024 Alhambra International Guitar Competition.
It is a piece of moderate length that aims to bring together, at the same time, a certain technical level of writing worthy of a first-class competition with an interpretive logic that may interest the performer.
Formally, the work proceeds through a succession of cells capable of generating melodic, harmonic and rhythmic units that are capable of evolving with constructive logic but that leave space for the sensitivity of the performer to flow freely so that the score is an impulse and a suggestion. more than an imposition.
The title is not intended to be a description, but rather a state of mind that makes the music arrive in a soft and pleasant way, as one would perceive the breath of a breeze coming from the sea. It is a metaphor and a suggestion, not a proposal for program music. In this way, music can be established as a communication process between the composer and the public through the personal and absolutely valuable intermediation of the performer. Tomas Marco
Tomás Marco
Introduction to the edition of the work Brisa Marina by Tomás Marco, CIGA 2024
Manufacturas Alhambra, leader in the sector of the construction of Spanish artisan guitars, has always had as its goal to support and promote everything related to the world of the guitar and Spanish music.
Being aware of the necessary contribution he could make to generations of young guitarists, he created more than two decades ago the Alhambra International Guitar Competition, which is considered today one of the most prestigious in the world.
Elevating the guitar to the highest category within classical music, encouraging, supporting and rewarding the work of new guitar values, have been the main tasks that the management of the Competition has set since the first edition. Increasing the quality, prestige and internationality of the Competition are some of the most important objectives that we have set for ourselves in each of the editions.
Spain has a very rich historical-musical heritage and the guitar has been one of the instruments that most prominent names have contributed to this very important musical legacy. Suffice it to cite as an example Gaspar Sanz, Fernando Sor, Francisco Tárrega, Joaquín Turina, Joaquín Rodrigo... undisputed figures in the history of the guitar who have a common geographical origin: our country.
That is why, within this general framework of support for the guitar and Spanish music, we continue to present new titles to this Music Collection, associated with the Alhambra International Guitar Competition, in order to stimulate creation, expand our repertoire and help to its dissemination.
The Collection, directed by José Luis Ruiz del Puerto, was inaugurated in 2012. In this Edition it is expanded with a new composition: Brisa Marina by Tomás Marco, a prestigious composer, very close to the field of guitar, who has an important catalog of works for this instrument.
The Alhambra Guitars Foundation takes the baton of this important firm to continue its path and bet on a Music Collection that serves to prestige and disseminate Spanish music and guitar in the world. We thank Editorial Piles for the good reception and support it has offered to this project from the first moment.
Valencia, May 2024