La balada del bes

Little did I think in 1951, when I composed Balada del bes on Joan Maragall’s (1860-1911) delicious poem, that I would have to wait 62 years to listen to its premiere. The bright sound of the white voices brought to live by the marvellous Cor Vivaldi, conducted, interpreted and enlivened by Òscar Boada, on November 9th 2013 at the Axa Auditorium in Barcelona.

The theme, the time and tone evoked by Maragall brought me to the translucence of children’s or girls’ voices, and to a harmonic treatment rooted into the Renaissance, contemplated through the centuries past. In its first and second parts, the music describes the tale of the lady’s first kiss to the roving minstrel. In its third part, it leads to the glorification of the immortal kiss and finish with a reprise of the initial theme, flavoured with a pinch of irony, in the last verses : Her affliction grew worse / At the sight of his parting, / And her malady seized her, / But die she did not. The Autorcs