The sardana is a very old folk dance typical of Catalonia and the cobla is the name of the type of band that performs that music. The modern cobla band – modern since the later part of the 1800s – consists of twelve instruments: one flabiol (a three-holed flute), one tamborí (very small drum), two tibles (an oboe-like double reed), two tenoras (a larger version of the tible), two trumpets, one valve trombone, two fiscorns (flugelhorns) and one three-string double bass. The tibles and the tenora are (surprise!) the loudest instruments of the band – the tenora is a big instrument made out of wood and brass about four feet (one meter) long!
Nobody knowns when the sardana originated but it has been popular in Catalonia since the 1500s with new forms originating in the latter part of the 1800s. The music of this folk dance has been standardized around a clear 6/8 rhythm. In both Spanish and French Catalonia about one hundred and thirty cobla bands are active.
The modern form of the sardana is called the long-sardana and always begins with a free introit by the flabiol flute which leads immediately into the dance. The tempo of the dance normally has a consistent and fast metronome beat of about 110 in a 2/4 but more often than not in 6/8 rhythm. The dancers are called sardanistes and is normally danced in the streets and town squares with those occurring in Barcelona and Girona the most famous. On this disc there are 14 tracks in all; included are typical sardanas written from around 1850 up to the present. The most famous composers heard on this disc are Pep Ventura (the father of the modern sardana), Enric Morera, Pau (Pablo) Casals (the famous cellist) and Manuel Saderra.
The sardana is considered to be the national dance of Catalonia, nowadays an autonomous community or nationality within Spain which is a very special political status in itself. In general the music is overwhelmingly virtuosic and noble, and as in most typical folk dances of the world is noted for its vibrant musical scoring and festive attitude. This includes the incorporation of classical symphonic features (J.S. Bach or Domenico Scarlatti for example) and many of them are approached from the beginning like a classical fugue. To wit, an instrumental dialog in fugue form that begins in the short introit (the theme) which is then deconstructed and repeated alternating/progressively much like a simple or double fugue. Suffice to say that Igor Stravinsky was a great admirer of the sardana and specially the great composer Juli Garreta (1875-1925) – in listening to his ballet music this rapidly becomes evident.
The Cobla Sant Jordi performs with studied abandon for almost perfect performances and I doubt that I have heard ever better renditions of this music. An absolute joy indeed! This is one of the best discs I have heard this year; consequently I nominated it as a CD recording of the year for 2008. This disc comes packaged in a beautiful “reference” type booklet (it looks much like a DVD box) rather than the standard CD jewel box, with excellent texts in Catalonian, Spanish, French and English.
About the sound: absolutely audiophile “reference” quality, which is lot to say for an standard Red Book CD. This disc will put any audio system to the test – I dare you to listen to this disc loud. Great sound engineering!!!
— John Nemaric
