Author: MJAcomposer

RETALLS D’ARTICLES SOBRE L’ESTRENA DE L’OBRA:

‘Ecos de la Terra’ és una obra del compositor lleidatà Miquel de Jorge Artells, encarregada especialment gràcies al conveni amb l’AEOS i la SGAE, aconseguit per concurs. La peça, “inspirada en melodies populars de les terres de Ponent, és una evocació poètica del paisatge i de la gent que l’habita”. El mateix director assegurava que l’obra “és un homenatge a la identitat i a la diversitat. Volem mostrar que la música popular i la culta no són mons separats, sinó veus d’un mateix esperit creatiu. Aquest concert representa l’essència del que volem que sigui aquesta nova etapa: oberta, arrelada i inspiradora”, afegint que “l’OJC vol ser molt més que una orquestra: vol ser una eina cultural al servei del territori i de les persones”.

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El primer concert, ‘Ecos de la terra’, estrena una obra inspirada en melodies populars del compositor lleidatà Miquel de Jorge

El concert inaugural porta per nom ‘Ecos de la terra’ i inclou l’estrena d’una obra homònima del compositor lleidatà Miquel de Jorge Artells, inspirada en melodies populars de les comarques de Lleida. De Jorge ha agraït a l’orquestra “que aposti pels creadors del territori” i ha explicat que l’obra recull temes musicals de l’Alt Urgell, el Segrià i la Segarra, entre altres indrets.

El concert s’inicia amb l’estrena d’una obra composta per un compositor lleidatà, Miquel de Jorge Artells, que ha estat encarregada gràcies al conveni amb l’AEOS i la SGAE que l’OJC ha aconseguit guanyar per concurs. Aquest encàrrec simbolitza l’arrelament de l’Orquestra Julià Carbonell (OJC) al seu territori, ja que pren com a base una melodia popular de les terres de Lleida. L’obra no només ret homenatge a la tradició musical del territori, sinó que també contribueix a la seva renovació i projecció cap al futur. La decisió d’encarregar aquesta peça emfatitza el compromís de l’OJC amb la creació contemporània i el suport als compositors vius. A més, aquesta estrena posa en valor la riquesa del folklore lleidatà, destacant-ne les seves melodies com a testimoni viu de la història i les emocions d’un poble.

Luz de Mar has been selected for many festivals, and the soundtrack has already received 3 awards and a nomination. The authenticity and originality of the music, together with the discourse and narrative with the film, have made it receive the attention of different festivals and juries.

The Monthly Film Festival has made us a very nice review of the short film that I share with you so you can read it:

“At first glance, ‘Sea Light‘ doesn’t look like a project that aims to impress with a so-called spectacular action. But John Doe gives us a subtler experience, a refined psychological game, and a tailor-made atmosphere in which “sterile” realism is intertwined with fantasy. In addition, the fact that the director chooses to build his short film around a single character makes that complicity between the spectator and the protagonist even stronger. This connection makes you feel much more intensely the emotional fluctuations of the old lighthouse keeper, who develops against the background of an almost sacred fascination for the mysteries of the world he lives in an existential crisis that pushes him into madness. What seems to begin as a meditation on the fragility of life, in the style of the famous novel by Hemingway, turns into a story that is closer to the daily quirks of some proses signed by Julio Cortazar or the aquatic nightmares recalling the “Cold Skin” book/movie. Likewise, the impenetrable secret of the sea that sends mysterious messages to the old keeper has something of the almost gothic aura of H.P. Lovecraft’s writings when describing enigmatic cults dedicated to supernatural entities. However, the director doesn’t give us access to the final epiphany of the character – the gods who are shown to him, in the end, are invisible to us. Following the extreme gesture of the protagonist, only the uninterrupted breathing of the sea remains, keeping its enigmas unhindered.

We could say, from this point of view, that the real character of the short film is, in fact, the sea, whose presence is felt in every moment of this epiphanic nightmare lived with eyes wide open. That is why John Doe invests so much in creating this rather twilight universe, this atmosphere that exudes both absolute freedom and abysmal fear. The sea, the quintessential female symbol, is not only a constant visual presence but also a permanent seductive “voice” that insidiously overwhelms the main character. This fascination that contaminates the viewer also occurs gradually, through a slow burn narrative progression professionally conducted with well-balanced cinematography and a suggestive soundtrack. ‘Sea Light’ is a short film that resembles a mermaid song: the magnetism it emanates will trap you in an experience that may make you shiver. And that’s why we enjoyed every single moment of it!

For its temperate, but at the same time fascinating and terrifying, atmosphere, and for the professionalism with which the director builds this final confrontation of a character with his own destiny, ‘Sea Light’ was awarded the Film of the Month distinction in the May 2022 edition of TMFF.”

I’m happy to present my first participation in a chamber music album as a Composer. Quartet Vela is a talented young saxophone quartet that trusted me to be part of their musical journey between Catalunya and Chile. “Hårgalåten” was the piece that I wrote for them, a work inspired in a Swedish folk legend about the Devil and a village called Hårga.

The idea of the piece came after watching a well-known horror movie called “Midsommar”, a film that is set in the village of Hårga.

Here you can read the story about “Hårgalåten” :

“It is a late Saturday night and all the young people in Hårga have gathered to dance in a barn. Suddenly in the middle of the dance, the music gets interrupted and a new fiddler steps forward from the shadows. He had a large dark hat on his head and you could see a pair of ‘burning’ eyes. The fiddler lifted the violin to his chin and began to play a song that had never been heard before. All the young people immediately began to dance to the new tune. But once they entered the dance, they could not stop dancing. The dance continued throughout the night and when dawn arrived the fiddler left the barn. After him came all the dancers, following him in a line. They couldn’t stop dancing. The sound of the violin fueled the dancers will to move their feet. When the church bells rang for service, the dancers disappeared with the fiddler. A girl remained laying on the dance floor in the lodge. No one had listened to her when she warned them about the fiddler, and no one noticed the fiddlers hooves in the midst of the wildest dance they’ve ever been through. The legend continues, saying that the fiddler led the dancers to Hårgaberget (Hårga Mountain) where they danced until only their bones were left. Some even say that you can still see the marks from the ring dance at Hårgaberget, and if you are so brave to venture out on a night of the full moon, it is said that you can hear the music that the devil once played for those who died.”

VISTES AL MAR – Quartet Vela

Carla Obach Esteban, soprano saxophone

Débora Ñancupil Troncoso, alto saxophone

Jaume Oliver Cladera, tenor saxophone

Laura Allès Pascual, baritone saxophone

Works in this CD:

“Hårgalåten“ (7’46)

Album released in 2021

BUY album