In April Francisco Coll’s new 10-minute work for piano and orchestra, No seré yo quien diga nada (‘I’m not saying nothing’), was premiered by the renowned pianist Nicolas Hodges and the Valencia Youth Orchestra, with whom Coll is currently composer in residence. The first performance took place at in the Auditoro de Torrevieja, Spain with further concerts at the Festival de Úbeda and the Palau de la Música de Valencia. Coll is now writing an extended cadenza for the work and additional performances are sought.

The piece evokes Coll’s social preoccupations in a sonic environment; “the pianist takes on the role of a leader in what could be the modern mass culture,” says Coll, “rather than the soloistic character traditionally associated with the concerto form.” It uses a Spanish folk dance (Zortziko) as well as unusual orchestration to invoke “ruthless energy” and dreamlike motives.

PRESS
‘The score of the Valencian composer is bold. Drawing parallels with contemporary society, it pushes things to their limit; it empties the orchestra of violins, violas and oboes and gives prominence to flutes, clarinets and bassoons in their most extreme registers, i.e. piccolos, clarinet in E and contrabassoons… The combinations and references are also bold. The main subject is based on a zortziko, a traditional Basque dance, and added to this are other genres of popular music in the form of quotations from pop and jazz pieces… With all these ingredients he has made a complex and highly rhythmic work that “attempts to tell the transcendent and deep, through the absurd.”’
El Pais (Juan Manuel Játiva), 15 April 2012

‘Based on the Basque Zortziko rhythm, it developed an imaginative but coherent speech that deserved the audience’s praise.’
Levante (Alfredo Brotons), 18 April 2012