Exquisitely simple, but endlessly deep.
Andy Gill. The Independent
Meditative atmospheres, harmonic refinement, and an equilibrium between sound, resonance and silence.
Stefano Russomanno. ABC Cultural
Delicate and subtle, with high poetic imagination.
Jonathan Harvey
Andy Gill. The Independent
Meditative atmospheres, harmonic refinement, and an equilibrium between sound, resonance and silence.
Stefano Russomanno. ABC Cultural
Delicate and subtle, with high poetic imagination.
Jonathan Harvey
News
Llum (Light)
for a cappella choir
Llum (Light) is an invitation to take a journey inward, to travel to the immense space which is, precisely, what makes us human, to that silent place which exists within us, to the deep wellspring that is the birthplace of everything, to the bright sapling of Peace; to the infinite, which announces the Mystery; to the gift of Life, Peace and Love. The texts which accompany each of the seven stages of this inner pilgrimage were written by my friend Vicenç Santamaria, a monk from the monastery of Monserrat. The words have been set to music for a variety of choral formations - mixed choir, female voice choir, double choir -, and for different soloists. All the pieces are composed to be sung a cappella, and in Luminous Crumbs crotales and bar chimes have been added.
Llum (2013-2016)
for a cappella choir
Llum (Light) is an invitation to take a journey inward, to travel to the immense space which is, precisely, what makes us human, to that silent place which exists within us, to the deep wellspring that is the birthplace of everything, to the bright sapling of Peace; to the infinite, which announces the Mystery; to the gift of Life, Peace and Love. The texts which accompany each of the seven stages of this inner pilgrimage were written by my friend Vicenç Santamaria, a monk from the monastery of Monserrat. The words have been set to music for a variety of choral formations - mixed choir, female voice choir, double choir -, and for different soloists. All the pieces are composed to be sung a cappella, and in Luminous Crumbs crotales and bar chimes have been added.
Llum (2013-2016)
I. Tanca els ulls (Close Your Eyes), for female voice choir
II. Camina endins (Walk Inside), for mixed choir
III. Baixa al cim de l’Ànima (Descent to the Summit of the Soul), for female voice choir
IV. Pedra nua (Naked Stone), for mixed choir
V. Pau al Cor (The Peaceful Heart), for solo soprano and mixed choir
VI. Engrunes de Llum (Luminous Crumbs), for choir of soloists, mixed choir, crotales and bar chimes
VII. Al·leluia (Alleluia), for mixed choir
17 June 2016
Lluny (Afar)
World premiere
14, 15 March 2016. Auditorio 400 MNCARS. Madrid, Spain. Fundación BBVA. Bilbao, Spain
Orquestra de Cadaqués Ensemble. Ernest Martínez Izquierdo, conductor
Álvaro Octavio, flute. Geneviève Strosser, viola. Miquel Bernat, percussion. Ferrán Carceller, percussion. Iván Herranz, percussion
Commission: CNDM
+info | programme note
World premiere
14, 15 March 2016. Auditorio 400 MNCARS. Madrid, Spain. Fundación BBVA. Bilbao, Spain
Orquestra de Cadaqués Ensemble. Ernest Martínez Izquierdo, conductor
Álvaro Octavio, flute. Geneviève Strosser, viola. Miquel Bernat, percussion. Ferrán Carceller, percussion. Iván Herranz, percussion
Commission: CNDM
+info | programme note
9 March 2016
El temps i la campana (Time and the Bell)
World premiere
23, 24, 25 October 2015. Auditorio Nacional. Madrid, Spain
Yukiko Akagi, piano
Orquesta Nacional de España. Guillermo García Calvo, conductor
Commission: Orquesta Nacional de España
+info | programme note
23, 24, 25 October 2015. Auditorio Nacional. Madrid, Spain
Yukiko Akagi, piano
Orquesta Nacional de España. Guillermo García Calvo, conductor
Commission: Orquesta Nacional de España
+info | programme note
1 May 2015
Mar i lluna
Alberto Rosado, piano
Recording sessions of e-piano, an audiovisual project performed by Alberto Rosado. The BBVA Foundation supports this pushful recording. Rosado performs works for piano, electronics and video, in close collaboration with composers Hilda Paredes, Cristian Morales, Arturo Fuentes, Ramon Humet, Jesús Navarro and Aurélio Edler-Copes.
30 January 2015
Alberto Rosado, piano
Recording sessions of e-piano, an audiovisual project performed by Alberto Rosado. The BBVA Foundation supports this pushful recording. Rosado performs works for piano, electronics and video, in close collaboration with composers Hilda Paredes, Cristian Morales, Arturo Fuentes, Ramon Humet, Jesús Navarro and Aurélio Edler-Copes.
30 January 2015
Pau al Cor
Latvian Radio Choir. New Music Festival Arena.
1 October 2014. St. John's Church. New Music Festival Arena. Riga, Latvia
Latvian Radio Choir. Conductor: Sigvards Klava
+info
1 October 2014
Latvian Radio Choir. New Music Festival Arena.
1 October 2014. St. John's Church. New Music Festival Arena. Riga, Latvia
Latvian Radio Choir. Conductor: Sigvards Klava
+info
1 October 2014
A fascinating project
Niwa at Gramophone Magazine
This second release focuses on Ramon Humet (b 1968), who studied at the Barcelona Conservatoire and has latterly been influenced by the sonic and spiritual concerns of the late Jonathan Harvey. This is evident throughout the three works featured here -not least Four Zen Gardens (2008), in which three percussionists pursue a wide-ranging discourse unified by their heterophonic interplay over four main sections linked by three interludes of gently resonating timbres.
This fastidiousness is no less to the forefront in Garden of Haikus (2007), whose 10 brief yet continuous movements -each evoking a specific mood- unfold as might a sequence of interconnected Japanese poems. The haiku is the determining element of Petals (2009), whose three lengthy movements transmut Bankoku's text in ways which, for all their indebtedness to Oriental practice, constitute a unified as well as evolving conception that is inherently Western both in its formal and expressive concerns. (Richard Whitehouse)
3 February 2014
Niwa at Gramophone Magazine
This second release focuses on Ramon Humet (b 1968), who studied at the Barcelona Conservatoire and has latterly been influenced by the sonic and spiritual concerns of the late Jonathan Harvey. This is evident throughout the three works featured here -not least Four Zen Gardens (2008), in which three percussionists pursue a wide-ranging discourse unified by their heterophonic interplay over four main sections linked by three interludes of gently resonating timbres.
This fastidiousness is no less to the forefront in Garden of Haikus (2007), whose 10 brief yet continuous movements -each evoking a specific mood- unfold as might a sequence of interconnected Japanese poems. The haiku is the determining element of Petals (2009), whose three lengthy movements transmut Bankoku's text in ways which, for all their indebtedness to Oriental practice, constitute a unified as well as evolving conception that is inherently Western both in its formal and expressive concerns. (Richard Whitehouse)
3 February 2014
An opera-oratorio
Rebecca Simpson, idea and libretto. Ramon Humet, composition. Gerd-Hagen Seebach, stage direction. Andreas Henning, music direction
World premiere: Halle Oper, Germany. 02.10.2013. Other performances: 06.10.2013, 18.10.2013, 23.10.2013, 09.11.2013, 24.11.2013
2 October 2013
Niwa
London Sinfonietta & Nicholas Collon
15 September 2012