CCMusic.com

The emerging quartet Gaman Ensemble shows in this album the evolution and cross-influences of that strong Spanish presence in the French capital over the last century. It's four members (Jesus Reneses -soprano saxophone-, Carlos Zaragoza -alto saxophone-, Daniel Sanchez-Manjavacas -tenor saxophone- and Luis Maria Gonzalez -baritone saxophone-) have studied in Paris, allowing themselves to be nourished musically and intellectually by the cultural life of the city. So did the five composers who make up the disc: Joaquin Nin, Jesus Guridi, Enrique Granados, Eduard Toldrà and Felix Ibarrondo. Gaman Ensemble records for the first time their own versions for saxophone quartet of the pieces by Nin and Guridi, originals for piano or string quartet, as well as the arrangement of the dance by Granados and the work commissioned by themselves to Ibarrondo.

From these five scores, the versatile and rigorous Gaman Ensemble aims to illustrate the fruitful and long-lived sound encounter between Spain and France without losing sight of the musical regionalisms that were forged in the final stages of Romanticism. Basque, Andalusian and Catalan popular references emerge more or less explicitly in the languages of the five composers. On the other hand, as well as showing it's commitment to contemporary creation through Ibarrondo's work, Gaman Ensemble wants to contribute to the revaluation of the production and legacy of composers not yet sufficiently recognised, such as Nin or Guridi. And all this, through the original and suggestive formation of the saxophone quartet, a mirror of contemporaneity.