Carlos Cruz de Castro

The Sinfonia n° 1 "Canarias" is dedicated to the composer's father, an old Canary Islander aged 94 at the time it was written. He was the reason why Cruz de Castro decided to focus the composition's middle movement wholly on the Canarian Folía. This special, important form of Canarian folk music appears both in its original form and in variations: "That's the way it should be: from the simple to the complex, from the melody line to the concentration: a harmonious whole." (Cruz de Castro) The Tocata vieja en tono nuevo was written on the basis of the Toccata no. 4 in the fifth tone by Juan Bautista José Cabanilles, a Spanish Baroque composer (Cristóbal Halffter's Tiento del primer tono y batalla imperial is also based on a composition by Cabanilles, see col legno 20204). Cruz de Castro created not merely a variation or instrumentation out of this material but turned it into a completely new work. The four elements are a subject that has frequently been tackled by composers for piano in the past; usually they chose water, but occasionally fire as well: reminiscent of Debussy's Feux d'artifice, de Castro's Los elementos: n° 4 El fuego, like the other three parts of the cycle Los elementos, is dedicated to a Canarian artist.