+ NL EDUARD RODES: SEA STRINGS
The third cd by Catalan composer Eduard Rodés features another series of classical guitar tunes that evoke landscapes and portraits. Though unintended at the onset, “Sea Strings” completes a trilogy that started with “Amb els mans” (With One’s Hands) in 2004 and “Repùblica Mediterrània” in 2006.
Rodés is a master at evoking feelings and sensations related to landscapes and portraits.
His landscapes are images that convey personal and emotional moments, memories of feelings, smells, colours and flavours. “Italian Dream” is a fine example, but even the prosaically titled “A Walk Around the Port” draws upon the same register: it displays the composer’s love for his home-town (Barcelona) and the Mediterranean, symbols of openness, tolerance and humanity.
This mastery of feelings and sensations is equally true for his portraits or ideas. His tribute to Francisco Ferrer, who revolutionised modern education and was executed by a right-wing regime, is apyly called “Light”. Undoubtedly my favourite, it radiates the light, joy and happiness that Ferrer wanted to bring. Rodés also uses the six strings for homages to the life of Catalan philosopher and mystic Ramon Llull (“The Secret Of Liffe”) and Pythagoras’ symbolism of perfection and balance.
One will have noticed that there is no escaping one particular image: the Mediterranean – not the sea, but the cultures (do note the plural) that have developed on both shores for millennia and actually shaped Europe more than we want to admit. One will also have noticed too that there is no escaping one particular set ideas: humanism, laïcité, enlightenment. Rodés firmly believes that the Meditarranean can set a powerful example of present-day humanism if built on republican values and laicité – the only way to actually materialize a republic.
The musical strength of Rodés lies in his friendly melodies and tones that start you dreaming, meditating, wondering. It should be added that the virtuoso guitar of Carles Trepat is wonderfully upgraded by the strings of Quartet Texidor.
Since 2002, Rodés has delivered three cds containing sixteen songs that evoke the ideas and images that guide his life. It’s a wonderful trilogy that can be savoured for its music alone but reveals so much more when put in context. Moreover, it is difficult not to see the context since the packaging sustains the overrall phiolosophy and symbolism: the one--dimensional point and line of the first cd packaging, the two-dimensional surface of the second and the three-dimensional tetraktys that holds "Sea Strings".
© Eddy Bonte
First published on this site 31 Auust 2009
REFERENCE & CONTACT
Eduard Rodés: “Sea Strings”, 2008, Ergoclicks, http://www.seastrings.net . Guitar: Carles Trepat. Strings by the Texidor Quartet.
Contact E. Rodés at: info@ergoclicks.com
