Agustín BERTOMEU I Vivencia I 1970

Vivencia 1970

Composed in Pontevedra-Spain 1970 by order of the Directorate General of Fine Arts of the Ministry of Education and Science to be premiered at the First New Music Week in Madrid, cataloged as Op. 11 and dedicated to Antonio Iglesias (1918-2011), Vivencia is the only work for percussion in Bertomeu’s catalog, who explained the reasons for his interest in composing for this unusual staff in Spain: “[…] in these years, writing for percussion was a novelty. All the new ideas came from outside and percussion was booming at the European level.

 In this score we are faced with harmonic fields arising from controlled intervals that are strongly linked to the physical characteristics of percussion instruments of a certain height.

Many concerts were held with percussion as an outstanding instrument. ”3 However, Bertomeu’s catalog does not present a polarization around the percussion family within the solo genre but rather towards an orchestral use of it. In his catalog, a more relevant use of the family of percussion instruments can be found a few years later, in the period 1976-79, where works such as … and after4 (1976) for clarinet and percussion appear; Remembering Ramón Gómez de la Serna (1978) for soprano, clarinet itself, cello and a percussionist; and Improntu5 (sic) (1979) for five percussionists, the latter dedicated to the Madrid Percussion Group (Llorens, 2019, p.129).

Agustí Bertomeu I Rafal-Alicante I 1929

He studied composition with Tomás Blanco, and at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid with Conrado del Campo and Julio Gómez and Orchestra Conducting with Pérez Casas. In 1955, he entered the Army as Director of Music through competitive examination. In 1963 he attended the Musical Composition Course taught by Boulcz and Stockhausen in Darmstadt. He was Director of the Palma de Mallorca Chamber Orchestra of Musical Youth and, later, from 1968 to 1976 Director of the Polyphonic Choir of Pontevedra.

His works have obtained awards and mentions in compositional competitions among which are: International Prize of the Ministry of Information and Tourism 1968, the International Society of Contemporary Music (SIMC) selects two of his works to represent Spain at the Warsaw World Festival 1968 and London 1971. Honorable Mention at the 1968 International Oscar Esplá Award, Honorable Mention at the 1972 Prince Pedro de Monaco International Award, 1974 National Show Syndicate Award, 1974 National Ministry of Education and Science Award, Golden Harp in the VI Composition Contest of the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks 1980, VII International Prize of Musical Composition Reina Sofía 1989.