Biography in English

Antón Larrauri, Spanish composer of the Generetion 51 ( Carmelo Bernaola, Cristobal  Halffter, Luis de Pablo are members of this generation) was born the 30th of April of 1932 in Bilbao. By coincidence, he was born in Carniceria Vieja 8 Street, naer of where J.C. Arriaga was born two centuries before. J.C. Arriaga was Know as the spanish Mozart. The plays which were composed by Larrauri were interpreted in the Arriaga Threatre. There two genius were connected because of the circunstancesfor many years. Both composers left their mother country and they had a lot of succes. It is possible to find Larrauri´s play in foreing libraries.

When he was 5 years old he become part of the Carmelo de Begoña Choir of children. This family was so interested in music that his oldest brother was his teacher in piano and music theory.He studiedd  Philosophy and Latin and Greek. He worked as  teacher in different schools in Bilbao. When he was 18 years, he started to study Harmony, counterpoint and fugue by the hand of Ugartxeta, Victor Zubizarrete and Julio Valdés. We have to considered that Larrauri was a self-thaught composed and he never studied in school of music and Conservatories. This fact made him be different in comparison with the other composers of this generation. Despite being self-taught, his play is as appreciated and other contemporaries. He was always very critical and strict with his pieces he was really perfectionist.

He decided to study Rimsky-Korsakov and Hindemith Harmony by himself. The fact that the chose these two authors can not be coincidence and surely they influenced more in his future play than he expected. Rimsky- Korsakov was a Russian author who belonged the Russian national movement he was one of the mos creative composers in comparation with the others five composers of the movement. They wanted to show their culture and their Russian traditions through music. They pretended that everybody knew  they wealth. They were not politicians, they were in love with their culture like Larrauri with this Basque culture. However, Hindemith is more analytical, he belonged to the Neoclassicism. That is why Larrauri was attracted by these ideas. Many of his plays were named with titles which belonged  to the Greek world. Hindemith was a craftsman like Larrauri with his music. Anton Created works of art which were perfecthy organised.

We could define Larrauri as a home lover and very romantic person. Moreover, he was very analytic and perfectionist. This music was a perfect mix of flavours. He made possible mixtures which were considered strange. He was able to combine tradition and avant-garde with a great taste and care.

As soon as he finished the study with these composers, he started to investigate new musical forms with Juan Carlos Gómez Zubeldia. At the same time he was very focused on the sound study. Thanks to his brother José Luis , he started to be investigate this aspect of the music. By this time He creates electronical compositions. He studied the clasters and harmonius.

In 1965 he composed Egloga which is an organ piece. Years ago he had composed different pieces, however, Egloga had never published.

In 1960 he worked as a musical critical  for the Correo newspaper. He will continue working there until 1972. This newspaper is one of the most important in Bilbao. This job was a great responsability because of the fact that the citizens were informed about the cultural activity of the city. He recognised that his job in the newspaper helped him in this following develoment as a composer. He. was ble to listen more music and he had the opportunity to meet Juan Carlos Gómez Zubeldia.

1968 was an important year in his career. This year he performed his first pieces Dedalo, Apokatastasis and Elegia.Apokarastasis and elegia was performanced at the day of Santa Cecilia by the BOS ( Symphony Orchestra of Bilbao) directed by Pedro Pirfano. This director will perform several of his compositions.

In 1972 he started his international expansion, Ezpatadantza (1972) and Contingencias was distinguished by Tribuna de Compositores of UNESCO. The first one for mixed choros and soloist. These pieces of music were weel-known in different countries. Contingencisd was played in the tenth concert of the season of the BOS ( Bibao Symphony Orchestra) directed by Pedro Pirfano. Ezpatadantza was performed in Bilbao in the season 1971/72 of the BOS, the conducter was Pedro Pirfano. This composition is considered as a avant-garde musical piece. Musicians were subjected to difficulties. A year later this composition was played in Madrid in the season 1973/74 directed by Odon Alonso. This piece was performed in the second part of these concert.The review which was published in the Ritmo magazine mentioned that Ezpatadantza  lasted 13 minutes. In this composition you can listen to the Vasque folklore. In this case was interpreted by Adelaida Lecuna ( Contralto), Alejandro Ciarra ( Tenor) and Antonio Lagar (storyteller).

In 1974 a new piece in charge of Decena de Sevilla was released. This act is took place in the gardens of the Santa Clara Convent. This piece was called Grimorios. It was played by the Koan Woodwind quintet. This piece was based on the legend of wizards and magicians in which electronic music played an important role. Larrauri  said that the inspiration of this piece was a picture.

In Jaunary (1975) the piece Dialogos was performer for the first time in Bilbao. It was a tribute to the composer Falla. This piece  was conducted by Pedro Pirfano Pedro Espinosa was the Solist. In May of the same year this piece was performed by the same protegonits in Lerida.

Between April and May of 1977 Roberto Olabarrieta released a record called Recital de Guitarra Which contained pieces of Antón. It was  produced by Columbia recording.

In 1977 the Italian Prix selected Illun , an electroacustic piece whose lyrics were written by Eusebio Erkiaga, as a finalist. It is a piece of Larrauri.

In 1978 Antón composed Aitxa which was a piece for piano and ensemble. This piece was awarded in the contest composition Arpa de Orro of the CECA with the Arpa de Plata ( second place). Antón became finalist along with Francisco Estevez and Gabriel Fernández Alvez. The winner of the contest was Francisco Estevez with the piece Loa. This contest had two phases with different judges.  Enrique Franco, José María Franco Gil, Luis de Pablo, Francisco Guerrero y Carmelo Alonso Bernaola were in charge of the first phase. The second phase was created by Ernesto Halffter, Enrique Franco, Tomás Marco, Francisco Cales and Manuel Carra. The piece was performance the 2nd of February of 1978. Aitxa was interpreted by the pianist Jean Pierre Dupuy. The scores os the participants were edited by Alpuerto. The awards were handed in the Real Theatre by Jesús Aguirre and Miguel Allue.The record of this pieces was produced in 1980. The piece which Antón Larrauri submitted was recorded by the following ensemble: two flutes, a clarinet, a saxophone, a horn, a trumpet, two trombones and a tuba.

The magazine Ritmo ( september 1978 issu) included a rewiev of the piece Dialogos. This piece was composed in 1974 and performed  the 17th of Jaunuary 1975 in the theatre of Buenos Aires ( Bilbao) conducted by Pedro Pirfano. Subsequently this piece was interpreted by the National Orchestra of Spain and directed by Antoni Ross. Carmelo Dávila Nieto published his review the Following Paragraph : " Piece that do not excite me in this first audition however, I must recognise his interesting and correct timbre contrasts, his audacious sounds and his expressive strength. "

On October 30, 1978, the Monday musicals of the National Radio in Bilbao ended with a concert where Larrauri pieces were played. These works were sung by the choir of RTVE.
On the same dates at the Ercilla Hotel, the Zan Tiretu album was officially presented.
This disc was recorded by the choir San Juan Bautista de Lejona. Zan Tiretu is a Basque string used in the magic healer. Although in this work is used to represent the ancestral roots of Basque witchcraft. Zan Tiretu is based on a moment of ritualism and shows us various harmonious commbinations. It transmits mystery and shows us a current language that wants to leave proof of the tradition. Many people from Bilbao attended the presentation of the album, Francisco Javier García presented it and the secretary of the Basque academy, Juan San Martí, the culture delegate José Antonio Marturana, the director of the choir José Ignacio Sarria and Anton himself participated in the event.

Within the Santander festival of the year 1980 (on August 3) the Vocal quartets piece was performed, by the hand of the RTVE Chamber Orchestra with Lynne Kurzeknabe as conductor.

On August 29 of that same year the Cantigas de Laredo play premiered in the IX Summer Cycle of choral and organ music and the Festival of young organists. This work was commissioned by the Coral Salvé de Laredo and is based on pejinos themes. Cantigas de Laredo was reinterpreted in 1982. On this occasion the musical critic Ricardo Hontañón published a critique in the magazine Ritmo de Mayo in 1982. In this criticism he says that Antón impressed by the pejinos themes transformed them with the schemes of the cultured music, creating a work in which there is a beautiful symbiosis between the historical and the popular.

In 1980 Antón returned to appear in Musical Mondays of RNE, in this case in first celebrated in 1980.

1980 was a busy year for Anton. A new album entitled Música Española Contemporánea was published, which includes the work Dualismos del compositor.  In the critique of this album, reference is made to the peculiar way that the composer has to make the agogicas and dynamic annotations in his scores. 

Larrauri also composed religious works as is the case of Deus ibi est. This work was commissioned by the Religious Music Week of Cuenca. The piece premiered on April 15, 1981.
This was sung by the sopranos Carmen Bustamante and Ana Figueras and interpreted to the organ by J. m. Azcue. How the author himself told the piece was a commission for the festival and had to buy it in two months. The inspiration came to him when he saw Papa on television giving the blessing of Christmas.


We are aware of what Larrauri thought of Stravinsky's work. Anton visited his grave and a photograph was taken with her. This photo can be seen in some catalogs of Larrauri's work. In this photo we can see two geniuses together and also two personalities who had many things in common.
Both artists cared little about criticism, they wanted to express their way of feeling and living art and life. In the premieres of his works, strong disagreement was created between the audience, giving rise to kicks by the public. In the case of Stravinsky, it was at the premiere of La consagración de la Primavera and in that of Larrauri at the premiere of Contingencias. In a few years we will remember the patented to the first works of Anton as a symbol of what was, an advanced to his time that not everyone could understand. The incomprehension is common to breakthrough and innovative artists, they must spend years so that their work is really valued. Larrauri should have been much more valued throughout his career and especially in his later years. Anótn thought that Stravinsky was one of composers par excellence, for he was a creadro and innovator in the aesthetic composiiva. The work that most fascinated him was the Consecration of Spring for the way in which polyrhythm was handled and the use of accents for surprise. East. last one aspect that will always be present in the work of Larrauri., para. he was basic that the work surprised us.  Antón also emphasizes that Stravinsky looks for peculiar timbres and for it, it enlarges the registries of some musical instruments. For Larrauri Stravinsky, he is a compositional monster and marks a time. Stravisky made a breeding ground from which contemporary music emerged. Larrauri believes that his work is influenced by Stravinsky.

Carlos Cruz. de Castro wrote in 1983 the book "Memorias musicales y su alrededor" where he quotes Larrauri and says that he reflects on some particularities of the avant-garde language in his works.

 In March of 1983 a concert-homage was celebrated for the 50th birthday of the author. This act took place in the Campos Eliseos theater in Bilbao and was organized by the Vizcaína savings bank. His works Dies Illa and Soiñua were premiered there at the world level. At the same time, the works were performed for the first time in Bilbao: Venice, I found you in the air and poetry by Nieblas. In this homepage I participate the Bilbao Symphonic Orchestra led by Urbano Ruiz. The vocal pieces were performed by the quartet Tomás Luis de Victoria. On the occasion of this act the journalist Carlos Villasol made an interview with the composer, this interview was published in the magazine Ritmo.
The journalist tells us that this homage was confirmed by the mysterious popular roots of Larrauri's music. The composer tells us about Soiñua, which is a tenor orchestra piece, although originally he was a cutter for cello and orchestra, it is dedicated to Gabriel Verkós. This dedication is explained by the author: "When I heard about the death of the cellist, a work of mine was announced in Madrid, Gardunak, I thought about dedicating it to him .... When I was not so stunned, I thought about doing a work for great orchestra and violoncello that was dedicated to him and that work is Soiñua, however, being a tribute to Verkós I have dedicated it to Pedro Corostola since it will be the one who interprets it "Larrauri gives a very interesting fact about the origin of Soiñua's melodies : "I have included two themes, both mine: Itzali Eziña ... and as a second theme a new theme that is nothing more than a development of the first one, they are treated in a totally classic, traditional plan, but with the not picardy forgetting that we are in the twentieth century "In the interview he also tells us the following:" I believe that the only masters we have are the nature, the cosmos. "When we celebrate the passage of a year, we know that the earth has gone around the sun, but we are not in the same place. The same happens with art: I believe that art ..... returns but not to the point of departure ".  Anton also tells us that music has always been part of him and that from small to small musical compositions. In the interview he leaves us a curious anecdote and is that with 12 years he composed a work for piano that was interpreted by another child prodigy as is Joaquín Achucarro.
the work was titled Sobre el mar. Another aspect that is discussed in the interview is alchemy and music. Larrauri has been able to connect the notes of the scale with the smells and vice versa. Makes a correspondence between the vibrations of the notes and those of the pituitary when capturing the smells.

In 1983 he was invited by the Summer University of Gijón to give a lecture in the Jovellanos chair. This conference was later collected in the book of the University of Oviedo "14 composers of today" from the Ethos publishing house.
  
 In 1984 Antón made a very special premiere, the work Elegía. This piece is special because it shows his concern for his surroundings. This work is inspired by the tremendous floods that the city of Bilbao suffered in August 1983 and that resulted in numerous losses. The composer defines the work as a funerary song but at the same time hopeful. In the same year, the Principe de Asturias Foundation commissioned him to perform a choir and orchestra that was premiered at the Prince of Asturias Awards that year. At the premiere, the work was directed by Victor Pablo Pérez and was performed by the choir of the foundation and the symphony orchestra of the Principality of Asturias. The work was called Foguera, was based on popular Asturian themes. In this edition of the Prince of Asturias awards Anton Larrauri was part of the jury of the arts prize, which was awarded to the Orfeón Donostiarra. Regarding the awarding of this award the composer said: "a universal voice has been distinguished, a disciplined, constant work, a story of eighty years, a universal music"


In 1985, a book called LIM 75-85 was presented, where a synthesis of contemporary music was made in Spain. In this book, the activities of the members of the group are included, including Antón himself.

 The following year in 1986 premiere Barquereña. This is a piece for mixed choir that was commissioned by the XIX Contest of the Marinera Song of San Vicente de la Barquera (Cantabria). This work was re-released at the International Festival of Santander in 1991. At the same time that he composed his works they were recorded on disk.

In April 1986 the disc Armonias Vascas was presented at the Historical Museum of Vizcaya. This record was sponsored by Acenor (group of companies). The record was recorded by the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra with Carmel Bernaola as director and José Antonio Urdian as tenor. Joaquín Achucarro did the presentation of the disc. In this album, in addition to works by Larrauri, there were works by: Zapirain, Usandizaga, Luis Aramburu and Sabin Salaberri. Antón Larrauri was lucky that throughout his life his works were continued interpreting after its premiere, something that does not always happen with living composers.
An example of this is that on March 26, his new works Gardunak I and II (released the previous decade) were programmed. The concert performed by the Euskdi Symphony Orchestra was a success and was conducted by Victor Pablo Pérez. The play Gardunak Iesta based on the nana "Aurtxo Txikia" and Gardunak II on "Aldapeko". The composer was very congratulated after this concert.

In the XXXV International Festival of Santander Larrauri uvo a role amount because he premiered one of his works and also participated in a round table. This meeting took place at the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts and also participated in the Larrauri, Juan García, José García Román and Francisco Cano. On Saturday, August 9, 1986, his work Loas Uncle Simon was premiered at the Sanctuary of La Bien Aparecida, performed by the RTVE choir. In the critique of this concert of the magazine Ritmo it is said that with this work the author ratified himself within neonationalism.

In the first concert of the year 1987 offered by the BOS under the baton of Enriqe García Asensio premiered the work MAritxu. This piece is an orchestral fantasy about a Basque theme. It was commissioned by the orchestra itself to the composer. The work is dedicated to Maritxu Güller, the good witch of Uria, great friend of the composer. A few months later, on October 19 and this same year, another play by LArrauri Pakerantza Gabean with Albert Nieto as pianist was premiered in Bilbao. The critique of this premiere says: "Get an attractive piece by contrasting rude, confusing and hurtful sounds with the distant and delicate echoes of a simple navodeña song" This year a year of constant premieres, the prolific still had time to premiere a work more in the Musikaste (festival of Basque music of Rentería) called Voces de Gernika In this case it was an electronic piece.
 
On March 23, 1988, the premiere of his next work took place in Madrid. The work was.  
a Sonoris Tenebris and was interpreted by Pedro Espinosa in the singing school of Madrid.
  
 In 1989 he returned to reap another prize in this case the Gold Gaviota prize, sponsored by the Great Basque Encyclopedia.

From 1987 to 1991 he devoted himself to the in-depth study of the possibilities of electronics in music. Although, as we have already mentioned, it is a work that started in the 50s with his brother José Luis.

In 1993 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Tomás Marco he dedicated a work called Berrogueitamar. The piece was interpreted in the tribute that Tomás Marco received at the Monumental theater in Madrid. The work is published by Alpuerto.

In 1983 Ezpatadantza was reinterpreted by the National Orchestra of Spain. Once again it was a triumph and the composer had to go out to say hello. Within. this year we released a disc called "Current Basque Composers" which contains the work Grimorios de Larrauri. On the occasion of the 0 anniversary of the LIM, a book and compact discs were published, which again contains the work Grimorios. The LIM group is dedicated to the diffusion of contemporary music. This book and records are testimony to contemporary music in Spain.

The Soiñua piece of which already. we have spoken before was used in November of 1996 for the commemoration of the death of Verkós. This piece was performed for the first time in the auditorium of the University of La Laguna and in the theater Guimera de Tenerife, Soiñua had not been performed before in the Canary Islands.


Another facet of Antón that we have not touched yet is his trajectory within the music for cinema, he put to music movies and documentaries like:

• 1988 La diputada
• 1987 El polizón de Ulises 
• 1986 La monja alferez
• 1982 Bizkaiko lege zarra
• 1979 Ikuska 

 He was elected member of the jury in numerous competitions and contests such as:

• Jury of the first composition contest City of Barcelona (1977)

• Jury of the Lírico Contest of the Basque Country (1979). This contest was held on December 2, 1979 at Consulado  cinema of Bilbao . next to him were members of the jury Consuelo Azcoaga, Juan Cordero, José Ramón Rementería and José Ramón Orio

• Jury of the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts (1984)

• Jury of the Composition Contest of the Asturias Symphony Orchestra. This contest was desert and were members of the jury next to him: Carmelo Bernaola, Victor Pablo Pérez and Manuel Fernández de la Cera

• In 1987 he was member of the selection jury of works for the Tribune of Young Composers of the Juan March Foundation

• Jury of the awards of the SGAE of the year 1988 together with: Amando Blanquer, Manuel Castillo, Juan Hidalgo and Xabier Montsalvatge

• Jury of the Mozart prizes for prodigy children, Bilbao (1994)

 
On the occasion of his 50th birthday, the author gave us the keys to his musical and personal style. That is, how we can see his person reflected in his work:
Formation and humanist personality.
Antón will say it this way: "what worries me the most is man and his environment, because this environment belongs to man, I also worry about where it starts and where man ends" Here we can clearly observe that the composer, despite being interested in aesthetics Romantic, it will not be a romantic by definition. It is deeply rooted in reality and cares about the human well-being of individuals close to it and those who are not.

Passionate of the Basque culture
I was interested in his music, art, culture, ... That is to say, everything that we could include within the concept of Basque folklore. He will say it like this: "In the environment of man, their customs, traditions, their idiosyncrasies, their political-social rights, their freedoms, their feelings and, of course, their relationship with the beyond go in. That beyond which is the most here. That beyond that he created that is inside man "
Imagination and nonconformity

 
Both imagination and nonconformity will be two engines for Larrauri. We left the following on this subject: "I wish that the artistic expression lashes the routine and the dumbing"
Lyricism
Larrauri was a very lyrical composer. It makes an exceptional use of instrumental color, and at the same time, it can captivate us with a single melodic line. I knew how to mix the bells to get exceptional and unique colors. In his works his personal duality is reflected: we can see at the same time a long outward projection and a deep personal introspection. It has the ability to structure music from repetitive or evolutionary rhythms and it is through the mysterious, magical and sacral that it reaches drama. He tends to the ritual with his music because for him it is very representative.
Antón Larrauri died in Bilbao on December 22, 200, as a result of a cerebral infarction. His funeral was celebrated in the Church of Carmelo de Begoña. There he began and ended his musical career.
As a last review, it should be noted that if you have the television interview to which we refer. in the text is on YouTube. In the interview tab of the blog you have the link.