ISASI, BILBAO – BERLÍN

April 2023 marks exactly 110 years since the composition of the cycle of fourteen songs for voice and piano based on poems by the German poet Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), undertaken by the Bilbao composer Andrés Isasi (1890-1940) as part of his apprenticeship in Berlin, under the guidance of some of the most outstanding European composers of the time.

In his eagerness to rescue and enhance the value of music patiently waiting in the archives, Rubén Fernández Aguirre, knowing that he could count on Vanessa Goikoetxea’s quality work and solid voice for this type of repertoire, commissioned the composer Carlos Ímaz to track down the original score.

The only surviving recording was made in 1999 by Javier Solaun and Alejandro Zabala, from a copy that differed significantly from the manuscript, safeguarded at the Andrés de Isasi Conservatory in Getxo. The reconstruction of the original work has not been easy, since in addition to the usual process of deciphering the handwriting, erasures and misprints, there is the fact that the author liked to make several versions, ever changing, following his own personal musical evolution.

After several months of intense work, Arriaga Theatre is pleased to offer the world premiere of the complete cycle in its original version and language. The edition of some of the songs is safeguarded in the archives, but others were not even copied by his usual copyist, so we can affirm that the complete cycle was never performed in public during the author’s lifetime. The occasion is the perfect moment for the theatre to welcome the work of the Bilbao composer as it was conceived.

PROGRAME

Andrés Isasi (1890-1940). Lieder op. 16
Poesías de Heinrich Heine.

1 – Ali Bei
2 – Lass ab!
3 – Frühling
4 – Die ungetrue Luise
5 – In deiner Nähe
6 – An Sie
7 – Liedchen
8 – Vergiftet sind meine Lieder
9 – Es war ein alter König
10 – Der Phönix
11 – Sie tanzt
12 – Gott weiss für wen es schlägt
13 – Komm zu mir
14 – Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne

Carlos Ímaz (1972). “Cuatro canciones en forma de poema”.
Poesías de Matías González Pinos.

1. Sobre las torres del sol
2. Dentro de un beso
3. Perdido en tu voluntad
4. Sonrisa morena