[#296] March 24, 2025
1995 | Wind Orchestra | Grade 5 | 5’ – 10’ | Tone Poem
Premiered by Banda de la Unió Artística Musical de Vilamarxant
conducted by Julio Martínez García in Valencia, Spain.
“En un vasto dominio” by Spanish composer and teacher Ramón Ramos Villanueva is our Composition of the Week.
“En un vasto dominio” (In a vast domain) was finished on March 24, 1995, following a commission by the “Banda de la Unió Artística Musical de Vilamarxant” who premiered the work, with conductor Julio Martínez García, in July 1995, during the Valencia’s International Music Contest, earning a second prize in the third section.
This work is Ramos’ last composition for band. Ramos had written only two other works for the medium, Passacaglia in 1991, and a Moorish march, Lumo, in 1992.
“En un vasto dominio” is based on the homonymous collection of poems by Spanish Nobel Prize winner Vicente Aleixandre (1898 - 1984), written in 1962, who was a member of the very influential “generation of ‘27”, group of authors that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927.
Ramos’ work for band remains faithful to his basic compositional language of his maturity, using principles of serialism, free tonality, expressionism, bruitism, a masterful use of counterpoint and rhythm structures.
Composer and conductor Andrés Valero-Castells (1973) and former student of Ramón Ramos has done a critical edition of the work in 2022.
“My personal relationship with Ramón dates to 1997, when I began studying under him. From the first moment I heard some of his works, especially this one, I was fascinated by their strength and sophisticated language, as well as their use of rhythm and timbre. At that time, I had been conductor of Picassent’s Musical and Artistic Society (SAM) band since 1995. On February 28, 1998, I programmed this work for a special concert to be performed in the Torrent Auditorium. This was a “re-premiere”, and I did my best to offer as perfect a performance as possible. I fondly remember that as well as working on the piece with Ramón, both in class at the “Conservatorio Superior de Valencia” and at his home in Alginet, he was able to attend both the Picassent rehearsals and the Torrent concert. So, I can say that our version was as faithful as possible to his creative intentions. In 2001 the Picassent SAM released a double CD which included our performance (ed.N: the one provided here), the first recording of the work to be released. Subsequently I have been able to program it more often, highlighting the concert in which I conducted La Artística de Buñol in Valencia’s Teatro Municipal, as part of the Ensems Festival on May 17, 2014. It was the first time that Ramón’s two works for band, “Passacaglia” and “En un vasto dominio” were performed in the same concert.
Despite the care and attention with which Ramón wrote his music, it is inevitable that mistakes will occur in a handwritten symphonic score. In order to resolve these errors, and especially to help spread a deserving word regarding his music’s undeniable quality, I chose to digitalize the work by producing a critical edition. As well as correcting errata, most of which were confirmed by Ramón in 1998, certain decisions were made to update the score on details such as the arrangement and addition of optional strings. It has given me immense joy and enthusiasm to know that my maestro’s music will endure under the finest editorial conditions”.
Program notes to the revised edition by Andrés Valero-Castells
“En un vasto dominio” uses a standard concert band setting, including flugelhorns and 5 percussion parts. The use of cello and doublebass, standardized in today’s Spanish instrumentation were specially added to this edition.
The work has a duration of around 9 minutes, this revised edition is available at Tot per l’Aire Ediciones (Spain).
“Vicente Ramón Ramos Villanueva, better known as Ramón Ramos, studied piano and violoncello in Valencia, Spain. In 1972 he moved to West Germany to continue his education at the Robert Schumann Institute in Düsseldorf, where he studied composition and live electronics with professor Günther Becker. During this period, he worked as a teacher of music education and flute at the conservatory of Moers, and as a professor of harmony at the federal conservatory of the Rhine of North-Westphalia.
In 1978 and 1979, he attended the Witten avant-garde music days with Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtag and György Ligeti; and in 1980, thanks to a scholarship, he was able to attend the International Summer Courses of Contemporary Music in Darmstadt, during which he worked with Brian Ferneyhough, Gérard Grisey, Tristan Murail and Wolfgang Rihm.
In 1983 he took his final composition exam: as a final thesis, he composed a new work for large orchestra and analyzed another one, “Elegías a la muerte de tres poetas españoles”, by Cristóbal Halffter. After finishing his studies, that year he returned to live in Alginet, Valecian Community, Spain. Later, in 1990, he held the chair of Composition and Musical Forms, at the Conservatories of Alicante and Valencia until his passing.
Ramón Ramos was the teacher of some of today’s leading figures in Spain such as Sixto Manuel Herrero, Voro García, Andrés Valero-Castells, Carlos Fontcuberta, José Miguel Fayos, Iván Escudero y Héctor Oltra García.”
Other winds for band include:
• Passacaglia (1991)
• Lumo (1992) (Moorish March)
More on Ramon Ramos’ music:
« La expresión estructurada » doctoral thesis by Héctor Oltra García (Spanish)