Francisco Coll’s Two Waltzes Toward Civilization, a 10-minute work written for Kirill Gerstein, has been celebrated during its North American debut, following a premiere in December at Chamber Music in Napa Valley before outings at Severance Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Salle Bourgie, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal.
As fascinating as the title is and its emulation of Lora’s poetic search for place, the music was even more so…In two sections—one agitated, the other less so—the piece grabs standard clichés of romantic era pianism and does the equivalent of smashing them apart then twisting and stretching the fragments before tossing them away and picking up the next. The remarkable thing in the composing is that—though scattered and promiscuous—the music has a clear through-line. Gleeful and irreverent, Gerstein tackled this with punch and a sense of fun. The composer was on hand to acknowledge the hearty applause.
New York Classical Review (George Grella) 7 December 2024
…the composer has a lot of interesting things to say and challenges the player to make turn-on-a-dime mood swings. Gerstein accepted the challenge…“Waltz in the Branches” calls for huge, full-keyboard glissandi. At times it’s emotional and sensitive and in the next second angry with explosive, low bursts. Gerstein negotiated the sudden changes beautifully.
Cleveland Classical (Daniel Hathaway) 12 December 2024
Inspired by Lorca’s Poet in New York, Coll has created a pair of waltzes. Just as Lorca’s verse teeters on the point of crisis, Coll’s dramatic, colourful music of extremes exists on a knife edge. Waltz in the Branches begins with flourishes and bell-like sounds, before settling into the characteristic triple-time, capturing the capricious and magical mood of the poem’s opening. Little Viennese Waltz follows, borrowing its imaginative pattern from Lorca’s poem: a cheerful, beautiful waltz warped into something much more macabre.
In spring 2025 Gerstein gives European premieres of the work at Saffron Hall, Teatro Petruzzelli (Bari), Don Bosco (Basel), the Musikverein, the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and the Boulez Saal.
On 20 and 21 December Javier Perianes gives the Spanish premiere of Coll’s Ciudad sin sueño with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana conducted by James Gaffigan, The title (‘City That Does Not Sleep’) also takes inspiration from Lorca’s Poet in New York, named for a poem in the collection. A 20-minute fantasia for piano and orchestra, it is cast in three unbroken parts and was co-commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía.
‘Desplantes’, the first part, takes its name and character from some of Flamenco’s signature gestures; rude, flamboyant movements imbued with a particular kind of effrontery. ‘Duende’, the second movement, evokes a concept fundamental to Lorca’s creative spirit, and that of flamenco, something ineffable, untranslatable, authentic, and atavistic – "that mysterious power that everyone feels but no philosopher can explain." The festive conclusion ‘Orgía’ moves erratically through angular and repetitive rhythms in a kind of excessive spiral, in which the soloist becomes the leader of the group.