Cant espiritual

The tenor Jordi Casanova suggested that I set to music a poem by the great Catalan poet, Joan Maragall. He gave me absolute freedom of choice in this respect and after having read various poems I chose this one, which is about the right size to create what is more of a ballad than a lied, if we understand ‘ballad’ as being a genre parallel to the lied, which was developed by the great German composers of the 19th century such as Loewe, Schubert, Wolf, etc.
The work is essentially melodic with quite an epic character which we might define as the poet’s confrontation with transfiguration, or a step into the beyond. As is the case with several of my recent works for voice and piano, the instrument is not just an accompaniment but plays a predominant role, conversing with the voice at the same level. The piece was premiered at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona on 13 November 2011 with Jordi Casanova as tenor and Manel Cabero on the piano in a recital dedicated to the poet Maragall.

Miquel Ortega