Dues sonates

Dues sonates by Leonora Milà (Vilanova i la Geltrú, 1942), together with Carnaval and the successful Habaneras for piano (all published by Dinsic Publicacions Musicals), make up the central corpus of the piano pieces by the Catalan composer. In these two sonatas, the traces of Milà’s pianistic narrative are quite obvious. The first was written in 1973, during her artistic fulfilment period when she gave long world tours. In fact, this piece was first played by Milà during a Japan tour. The second sonata was written when the artist had already achieved full musical maturity and it opens up new musical pathways that are a middle road between classicism and modernity.

A disciple of Maria Canals, Milà performed at only six years of age at the Palau de la Música Catalana, performing her own piece and Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, KV488 by Mozart. At 12, she performed in a BBC programme in London. The latter performance opened up the doors of the British capital where she returned a year later, in 1955, to the Royal Albert Hall to perform the piece Nights in the Gardens of Spain, by the composer Manuel de Falla, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Lengthy tours throughout Europe, Asia and the United States led Leonora Milà to become the first Spanish artist to perform in the People’s Republic of China (1979), to record an album with the China National Symphony Orchestra (1988) and become the first female composer to premiere a ballet (Tirant lo Blanc) in Saint Petersburg. She is the winner of the Maria Canals International Music Competition and was awarded the International Catalan Culture Prize and the Creu Sant Jordi, and boasts over one hundred written scores and about thirty albums.