Jesus Torres Duos

J. Torres: Duos with piano

This CD presents itself before us like a photograph, still in development, of a part of the vital outline of Jesús Torres (1965). It shows us his essential characteristics, his concerns, and the solutions he has adopted throughout the more than twenty years covered by this volume (1997-2018). The main body of the work was written between 1997 and 2004, the time of the composition of the Variations for cello and piano, but his resources already outline and anticipate a future whose culmination -at least for the moment- we can see in his vocal music and his opera, Tránsito 2020. And not only that, he also takes us into his personal relationships with musicians with whom he shares trajectory and who have been patrons of his music. Torres composes with specific musicians in mind, amplifying their technical and expressive qualities. Thus, the Fantasía for clarinet and piano is dedicated to Rafael Albert and Francisco José Segovia; Accentus to Iñaki Alberdi, promoter of all his music for accordion; Silentum Amoris, to Sarah Roper, etc.

The technical and expressive maturity of works such as the Fantasía for clarinet is surprising -to say the least-: a language already formed, solid and unambiguous, which allows him to move towards less explored fields in later works. From there, the approach to extended techniques becomes more fluid in the Sonata for flute and piano, polymetric games in Splendens or the search for new articulations and timbral fusions in Variations, which increase Torres’ expressive palette. All of them serve as testing grounds – what work is not? – for the progressive filtering towards Silentum Amoris (2018): a music without artifice, in search of the essential, suppressing all excess; expressive, vocal, dramatic at times and poetic from the root.

There are in Torres several constants that run through his style regardless of the period and which, of course, these works contain. A series of characteristics that can be traced back to some of his teachers -Luis de Pablo in particular- and that he shares with some of his generational colleagues: the revaluation of traditional elements. It can be seen especially in the way melody, textural hierarchies and harmony propose new ways of relating between elements, on the basis of an already made path; of a heritage that is not an anchor, but a springboard.

Just to give a few examples, the traditional idea of the development of melody and phrasing through the process «impulse – stabilisation/development – recovery» is widely used, but from a new point of view. Torres cuts, overlaps, or extends this path according to his expressive needs, either by prioritising an instrument, using one of them to interrupt or extend, or even in parallel overlapping. The same happens with harmony. If we listen to the pieces diachronically, we will notice the use of traditional elements -tonal and modal especially- (triads, chords with extensions, constructions by fourths and fifths, etc.) more and more clearly, however, its handling is far from the functional, tonal one. On the contrary, Torres uses these chords as sonority, giving two extended functions to this series of aggregates: timbre-function and structure-function. The timbre-function extends the concept of «timbral chords» used by the avant-garde through more open and euphonic sonorities, objectifying its use like a brief flash that dissolves almost at the moment of its appearance and whose use we see continuously in iconic pieces of his catalogue, such as Manantial de Luz (2007) or the Violin Concerto (2011). And the function-structure of this type of chord in specific moments of the work, helps us to easily follow the development of the piece.

Referring to the textural and the relationship with the instruments, it is impressive to see the technical skill with which he usually expands the traditional duo relationship. Throughout the recorded works, the listener will observe how, especially through the piano as common relator to all of them, both the texture and densities are enlarged through the registers, leaving gaps (Accentus), unifying the trajectory of the phrasing (Sonata for flute), alternating empty rhythmic spaces that turns listening into a dizzying journey through the timbre (Splendens) or sharing registers (Variations and Fantasía) creating new instruments, in suggestive heterophonic interactions.

The piano, a basic instrument in the composer’s catalogue, is used in ways that, while connected with tradition, is taken a step further. We can summarise them in four: holding, decoration, impulse and gathering. Torres finds the most original forms of interaction without losing the sense of form with five elements: The acciaccaturas, the chord blocks -open or closed-, moto perpetuo, the multiplications of lines and the fluid continuity of the previous instrument.

Because finally -at least, humbly, for the one who writes this- Torres’ music is in search of fluidity, a constant curved stroke, irregular, but unitary and unidirectional. It describes a linear thought, which avoids blocks. There are no tangential thoughts or gestures, but a path whose lines constantly bifurcate and unify: a multiplication of paths. That is why the resonances are so important and the use of the pedal in the piano or the dialogues between registers, phraseological borrowings, etc. must be so scrupulous. Or that the rhythmic writing consciously flees from pulsation. The instruments seem to float over a reference that exists, but is not appreciated, leading the listener to a tense, expressive, nuanced and long-breathed listening.

The technical difficulties of this repertoire are extremely taxing. Fortunately, for this CD, Alberto Rosado, promoter of the project, has brought together a group of exceptional performers, who offer absolutely brilliant interpretations. José Luis Estellés (Fantasía for clarinet and piano), Miquel Bernat (Splendens), María Zubimendi (Accentus), David Apellániz (Variations for cello and piano), Clara Andrada (Sonata for flute and piano) and Robert Silla (Silentum amoris) all make their corresponding interventions in exquisite and referential versions. Because after all the technical difficulties of this music, the desired reward comes to the fore. Torres offers unsurpassable moments of expressive beauty that take the performer and, therefore, the listener, to the expected Ithaca: towards pure enjoyment.