Leonardo Balada: Symphonies

Narciso Yepes (guitar), Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra, Spanish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Mellon Symphonic Band, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Leonardo Balada, Enrique Garcia Asencio, Richard Strange

Catalog #: TROY0474
Release Date: March 1, 2002
Format: Digital
Orchestral

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 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.

Stream/Buy

Choose your platform

Track Listing

Title Composer Performer
Symphony No. 4 Leonard Balada Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conductor
Persistencies - Sinfonia Concertante for Amplified Guitar and Orchestra Leonard Balada Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya, Narciso Yepes, guitar, Leonardo Balada, conductor
Sinfonia en Negro - Monenaje a Martin Luther King (Symphony No. 1) Leonard Balada Orquesta Sinfonica de la Radio TV Espanola, Enrique Garcia Asensio, conductor
Cumbres - A Short Symphony for Band (Symphony No. 2) Leonard Balada Carnegie Mellon Symphonic Band, Richard Strange, conductor

*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Albany Records. The Albany Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC. The views and opinions expressed in this media are those of the artist and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions held by PARMA Recordings LLC and its label imprints, subsidiaries, and affiliates.