Sergio de la Puente & Joan Martorell in concert – Monti-Sion Sanctuary 2020
A week ago, on Sunday 9th of August, a special film music concert was held in Mallorca, Spain with the composers Joan Martorell and Sergio de la Puente (read news), presenting a series of works included in different films, TV series and other audiovisual projects, which they have composed both separately and together.
Gori Martínez attended the concert on behalf of SoundTrackFest, and tells us about it in the following special article.
CONCERT BY SERGIO DE LA PUENTE AND JOAN MARTORELL AT THE MONTI-SION SANCTUARY 09/08/2020
The venue where the concert was held is located near the Mallorcan town of Porreres, the birthplace of Joan Martorell, on the mountain near that town.
Unlike the concerts that Joan Martorell has given in the past in this town, this time the venue was not the Auditori de Porreres but the Monti-Sion Sanctuary, and the concert was part of this year’s program of the ‘Sons de Nit’ cycle.
It should be noted that even though the courtyard was full of people, the prevention measures for the COVID-19 Coronavirus were scrupulously respected, both with the necessary safety distances along with the rest of the measures such as face masks, gel, etc.
Images of some of the themes were projected, such as Inertial Love, Hambre, Pedro Barbadillo’s documentary about Camilo José Cela; La danza de Formentor and Campamento Albanta, among others.
The entire concert was performed by the two composers, Joan Martorell and Sergio de la Puente, accompanied by the trumpet of Bernat Xavier Xamena, the guitar of Guillem Fullana and the voice of Mary Lambourne. Other instruments were also added through the synthesizers, with an exchange between Sergio and Joan on the keyboards.
To start, Joan explained how he met Sergio more than 10 years ago thanks to a workshop on composing music for video games which, despite being a failure, helped to get to know each other, exchange the music they had made previously, and begin their common journey with the award-winning animated film ‘The Missing Lynx’ by director Raúl García.
From here they have worked together and their last collaboration is in the A3Media series, Campamento Albanta, with soundtrack that they have both composed.
The most touching moment of the evening was when a piece of Cinema Paradiso was performed as a tribute to the Great Maestro Ennio Morricone, who has recently left us (read special articles about Ennio Morricone here).
The concert started at 10 pm under a clear sky, full of stars and with some of them fleeting, which made the event even more pleasant.
The concert started with the piece composed by Joan Martorell, BLUE DOWN, while projecting beautiful images of nature captured with the Time Lapse system.
This was followed by a track composed by Sergio de la Puente from his album CABOT COVE and performed by himself on the piano.
The third track was again by Joan Martorell, BOCCA CHIUSA, belonging to the documentary of the filmmaker Joan Martí Mir.
Next, a new theme from the album CABOT COVE, sung by Mary Lambourne, and accompanied by guitar and trumpet, as well as Joan Martorell on accordion.
The fifth piece was the finalist song of the Goya Awards, LA NOCHE DE LAS DOS LUNAS, by Sergio de la Puente.
After that, we could listen to LA DANZA DE LA SANGRE from the film HAMBRE, by the director Manu Herrero, composed by Joan Martorell; a song that had already been performed at the Pollensa Festival with the Chamber Film Orchestra some years ago.
Then came the piece NOT THE END from the film SIN FIN, composed by Sergio de la Puente.
Entering the final part of the concert, we could see the short film of nearly five minutes by the Alenda brothers, INERTIAL LOVE, with soundtrack played by Joan and Sergio in synchronization with the film, which was composed by Sergio de la Puente and was accompanied on the accordion by Joan Martorell. This theme had already been performed at the Bellver Castle in Mallorca a few years ago with the Chamber Film Orchestra.
And then came the special moment of the night, a tribute to Ennio Morricone, for his recent death, with the performance of CINEMA PARADISO, with arrangements by Joan Martorell, who played the piano accompanied by trumpet and guitar.
Then we could listen to LA DANZA DE FORMENTOR, a documentary about Camilo José Cela directed by Pedro Barbadillo, with soundtrack was composed by Joan Martorell. The performance was accompanied by images of the documentary filmed in the viewpoint of Formentor, with the dance group of the writer’s granddaughter.
To finish the concert, we listened to the music of CAMPAMENTO ALBANTA, the main theme of the beginning of the chapters of the series, composed by both Joan and Sergio
The applause of the public managed to get an encore, from the album CABOT COVE sung by Mary. And so, after almost 90 minutes of concert, the evening ended. A concert that was brief, and that we enjoyed very much, especially at this time when live film music concerts are scarce, due to a sanitary situation, which we hope will soon subside and let us return to enjoy live music as usual.
Article and pictures by Gori Martínez
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