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Wind Band Music - AMARGÓS, J.A. / BERTRAN, M. / FÁBREGAS, E. (Catalan Wind Music, Vol. 2) (Camps, Barcelona Symphonic Band, Brotons)
After the resounding success of their first volume of Catalan Wind Music (Naxos 8.573547), the Barcelona Symphonic Band and Salvador Brotons return with world premiere recordings of works commissioned from award-winning Catalan composers. Xavier Montsalvatges’s colourfully festive Music for a Sunday is followed by Joan Albert Amargós’ play on the timbres and dynamic force of wind instruments in Thematic Games. Elisenda Fábregas’ dramatic and emotional First Symphony contrasts majestic grandeur with the expressiveness of Catalan song, and Moisès Bertran exploits the virtuoso skill of the soloist in his incisive and lyrical A Double Bass Fantasy.
Jonathan Camps is a member of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, teaches at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, is an executive coach with the European School of Coaching, and a D’Addario strings artist. He studied at the Conservatori Municipal de Música de Barcelona, the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien with Andrew Ackerman and in Canada with Gary Karr.
He is regularly invited to give masterclasses across Europe, South American and the US. As a concert performer, he has given many double bass and piano recitals worldwide, and has been invited to perform at numerous international festivals with ensembles including the Barcelona Municipal Band, the National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia and the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia.
Many compositions have been written for Camps, including Moisès Bertran’s A Double Bass Fantasy and Salvador Brotons’ Concerto for Double Bass and Wind Ensemble, both premiered in Barcelona with the Barcelona Symphonic Band conducted by Salvador Brotons.
The Barcelona Symphonic Band (Banda Municipal de Barcelona, BMB) was founded as a municipal orchestral ensemble in 1886. It soon became a highly regarded ensemble, and was at the centre of municipal and public life, performing at the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exhibition.
Between 1915 and 1939 conductor Ricard Lamote de Grignon oversaw a project carried out with municipal support which vastly raised the standard of the ensemble. It was during this time, in 1925, when Richard Strauss, who was visiting Barcelona, met the band, and invited it to perform in Frankfurt in 1927. Today, under conductor Salvador Brotons, the BMB showcases premieres and performances of works by contemporary composers, as well as original repertoire for symphonic band with the aim of producing a varied and popular programme.
The BMB is currently comprised 56 musicians, and produces a concert season at L’Auditori, performs in Barcelona and conducts concerts for schoolchildren.
For more information, visit www.auditori.cat/en/about-us-bmb
 Photo: Ricardo Rios Visual Art
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Salvador Brotons was born in Barcelona. He studied flute with his father, continuing his education additionally in composition and orchestral conducting at the Conservatori Superior de Música de Barcelona. In 1985 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and subsequently studied for a doctorate in music at Florida State University.
Brotons has written more than 130 works, and has received 16 prizes for composition, including the Premio Nacional de España (1977), the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona (1986) and the Queen Sofía Composition Prize (1991). He has also received numerous commissions and his works have been released on labels such as EMI, Auvidis, Albany Records and Naxos.
He has been music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since 1991, and has also been the conductor of the Vallès and Balearic Symphony orchestras. In 2002 he received the Florida State University Alumni Award for his professional achievements. He has been the music director of the Barcelona Symphonic Band since September 2008.
