On 11 June the BBC Philharmonic and John Storgårds premiere Francisco Coll’s orchestration of Manuel de Falla’s Fantasia Baetica at the Aldeburgh Festival. The earthy piano showpiece was written for Arthur Rubinstein in 1919 and bears the stamp of flamenco influences – a consistent musical reference point in Coll’s own compositions.
The 12-minute orchestration, commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic, is scored for a large orchestra. It is important and useful addition to the small catalogue of orchestral works by Manuel de Falla. The transcription will receive its North American premiere from Gustavo Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in February 2024 – both champions of Coll’s music - alongside Coll’s Ciudad sin sueño, a new work for piano and orchestra composed for Javier Perianes.
The performance continues Coll’s association with Aldeburgh, which saw the UK premiere of Coll’s Piano Trio last summer from Trio Isimsiz; in 2014 Thomas Adès conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Coll’s Piano Concertino, with Nicolas Hodges as soloist. Aldeburgh also co-commissioned Coll’s debut chamber opera Café Kafka, which premiered at the Britten Studio, Snape Maltings in 2014.
More of Coll’s music will be heard in Aldeburgh this summer. On 27 August Sean Shibe is joined by Timothy Ridout (viola) and Adam Walker (flute) for the first UK performance of a new version of Coll’s ...de voz aceitunada (2010, rev.2021) in the Britten Studio. Coll has composed a new supplementary third movement for the 12-minute trio, which won the II RCS Composition Prize in 2009, making it a four-movement piece. Jacob Kellermann gives the world premiere of this new version on 13 July at Vattnäs Chamber Music Festival in Sweden with Sophie Berggren (flute) and Albin Uusijärvi (viola).
Madre, a new work for solo piano by Coll, premieres in May. Commissioned for the Iturbi International Piano Festival by Diputació de València, the 7-minute piece will be performed by competitors in the 2023 competition between 31 May and 9 June. Madre it takes its title and inspiration from a painting by Joaquín Sorolla, and is the first in a series of pieces inspired by Spanish painters for solo piano; Coll discusses the piece in an interview here.