This morning the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts released its latest OMNI on-Location video. Readers may recall that last month saw two new releases, both giving complete accounts of two different partitas from Johann Sebastian Bach’s first Clavier-Übung (keyboard practice) collection, both performed by Gerhard Reichenbach. This morning a new video was released, this time shifting attention to Federico Moreno Torroba.
Leonardo García with his 2024 Andrea Tacchi guitar (photograph courtesy of the Omni Foundation)
Moreno Torroba’s catalog was a generous one, spanning the better part of the twentieth century. (He was born in Madrid on March 3, 1891.) Guitarist Leonardo Garcia chose “Madroños” for his OMNI video. The title refers to a tree that bears a large red berry shaped somewhat like an apple but with the rough texture of a strawberry. I doubt that anyone would accuse Moreno Torroba of composing “rough edges;” but his progressions tend to serve up more twists and turns than one would encounter in Bach’s music!
Prior to today’s encounter, I knew Moreno Torroba best because Naxos has released recordings of all of his concertos for guitar and orchestra on two CDs. Where solo performances are concerned, Ana Vidović played two Torroba compositions during her last visit to San Francisco for Omni early in April of this year. Further reinforcement for my listening has been provided by my Andrés Segovia albums. Nevertheless, I feel as if I am still finding my way to making the composer’s acquaintance, and García’s video is likely to help me along the right paths.
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