El partit del segle

Contents

(The Match of the Century)
As with the first cantata composed in 1997 'Cantata del dissabte' (Saturday Cantata), this one 'El partit del segle' (The Match of the Century) is intended for performance by students in music schools who have a basic knowledge of music.
Carrying on with the approach adopted in the chamber works 'Fragments d'estiu' (Summer Fragments), the technical demands are low, and enable the students to perform their parts without having to deal with complex passages. In this work too, I was particularly interested in bringing in elements from the music of our own day, combining the educational aim with the use of contemporary resources. 'El partit del segle' has a 'symphonic' structure, even though the individual materials are simple; the instruments and voices are treated using juxtapositions featuring a degree of density, always with a view to creating a texture that is varied and contrasting in terms of timbre.
There are two approaches as regards the text: on the one hand it is treated in a narrative fashion, as performed by the four solo singers, and on the other, more lyrically, as interpreted by the choir. In line with the content of the text, 'El partit del segle' is divided into short episodes, each distinguished by its varying musical content, and the work is part of a set of compositions on texts by David Picó S., such as the songs 'Cantant busca cançó' (Singer seeks Song), 'Parella desparellada' (Couple de-coupled) or the work for narrator and orchestra 'Clima Interior' (Inner Climate).
This cantata was commissioned by the Blai Net Municipal Music School in Sant Boi de Llobregat to mark its fifteenth anniversary.