MENU
Interview with Esencia Sax Quartet
An inside look at Esencia Sax Quartet’s journey through the preparation and premiere of La Sublime Esperpento, Servando Valero’s new work inspired by the pictorial universe of Albert Bonet. A glimpse into the musical, human, and artistic dimensions of a project in which chamber music enters into dialogue with contemporary painting through fourteen interconnected pieces.
Javier: In my case, it’s quite unique because I’ve known Gonzalo since we were eleven years old, when we first started playing together in the Youth Band of Guillena. Since then, we’ve shared countless experiences and grown side by side throughout both our professional and higher music studies, with him always being one year ahead of me.
With Jesús García, I shared those intense moments leading up to the entrance exams for professional studies, and I have very fond memories of our time at the Cristóbal de Morales Conservatory. And with Jesús Polo, I eventually graduated alongside him. We prepared our graduation recital together and shared the everyday rhythm of student life throughout those years.
After spending so much time making music together, there comes a point where words are no longer necessary. Just by looking at each other, we instinctively understand what the other person wants musically, and that creates a very natural connection when we perform together.
The fact that we all live relatively close to one another is a huge advantage, since all we really need in order to rehearse is a car and a space to play in. We come from four different towns around the Guadalquivir Valley, and that makes it much easier for us to work together throughout the year and at almost any time of day.
Friendship and trust within the group are also essential. Every criticism or comment we make comes from a place of honesty and mutual respect, even when it may not be exactly what someone wants to hear. To us, true friendship means being there for each other not only in the good moments, but also having the confidence to say, “that’s probably not the right path.” Within this ensemble, we always look out for one another, both in our individual careers and in everything related to the Esencia project itself.
Gonzalo: En el caso de mis compañeros, creo que compartimos una misma visión sobre los profesores que hemos encontrado a lo largo de nuestros estudios. Pienso que, igual que debe existir cierta distancia entre profesor y alumno dentro de una jerarquía académica, también debe haber admiración hacia el bagaje y la experiencia que aporta el docente.
In our case, we’ve been very fortunate, because the professors guiding us at the Seville Conservatory of Music have been, and continue to be, internationally respected figures. For Jesús García and myself, working every day with Alfonso Padilla is a real privilege. He’s constantly invited to international events, and we’ve had the chance to hear him perform in places such as China and as a soloist with orchestra. He operates on a completely different level.
As for Javi and Jesús Polo, there’s not much more that needs to be said. They study with José Antonio Santos, who is probably one of the most important saxophone professors in Spain over the past two decades. He has worked directly with masters such as Jean-Marie Londeix and Eugene Rousseau, and has performed as a soloist with the ROSS, among many other achievements.
Outside the conservatory, quartets such as Fukio, Habanera, and our colleagues from Synthèse have also been major references for us and true examples to look up to. This year, we had the opportunity to work with Fukio during the Sevilla Sax Meeting, and having them right in front of us, sharing their vision of music and giving us feedback after we had spent so many hours listening to them, was genuinely exciting and inspiring.
For us, it has been a completely new experience, since it was the first time we had ever worked with this kind of artistic concept, and especially one developed from the ground up.
When Bahía Clásica Agency first reached out to us, we were genuinely excited, and not long after that we started receiving the first drafts of Servando’s music. From the very beginning, certain musical ideas and recurring themes immediately stood out to us, and they really caught us by surprise.
As we began connecting each piece with its corresponding portrait, everything started to make much more sense. Beyond the extraordinary quality of Albert’s work, what impressed us most was how Servando managed to musically capture and highlight the details and character of each painting.
Once the visual artwork, the music, and Servando’s own artistic vision all came together, everything simply fell into place naturally.
Jesús Polo: Servando Valero’s music intrigued us from the very beginning. Naturally, the first thing we did was look into his background and artistic trajectory, and I have to admit that the challenge felt slightly intimidating at first, especially because none of us had ever been involved in the premiere of a brand-new work before.
Our first reading of the piece felt a bit like discovering an entirely new world for the first time. Perhaps that was due to our initial unfamiliarity with that particular musical language, or maybe because we still hadn’t fully connected it with the visual side of the project. But the more we worked on the piece, the more we began to feel that it suited us perfectly.
Servando Valero’s music, and La Sublime Esperpento in particular, contains all the musical and expressive qualities that allow us to feel genuinely connected to it as part of our own artistic identity. Its modern writing, moments of lyricism and virtuosity, and the constant energy running throughout the work all fit naturally with the character and sound of our ensemble.
Jesús García: For us, it’s incredibly important to crown the entire process with a performance that truly lives up to the project. These past months have involved a huge amount of work to make this premiere possible: travelling back and forth, having the opportunity to work closely alongside the composer, and dealing with all the scheduling difficulties and obstacles we faced before finally returning to Cádiz. In the end, all of that has only made us even more motivated and excited for the premiere.
We can’t wait to finally share this project and experience it together with the audience, because for us, that’s ultimately what music is all about..
We want to approach this performance with as much humility and professionalism as possible, so that on May 29th everyone leaves Cádiz feeling that we gave everything we had, that we truly lived every second of the music, and that we were able to transmit the same excitement and joy that being part of this project has given us.
We would especially like to thank Conchi and Bahía Clásica for the trust they placed in us; Servando, for every piece of guidance he has given us in order to bring his music to its highest level; Albert, for the extraordinary talent and emotion within his paintings; and of course the audience, whose warmth and enthusiasm we are certain we will feel next Friday in Cádiz.
At this point, all that remains is for us to enjoy these final days of a process that has unfolded within the walls of our rehearsal studio.
Have you already listened to La Sublime Esperpento?
A musical journey built from Albert Bonet’s portraits and visual imagination.
Fourteen interconnected pieces where the baroque, the contemporary, the popular and the grotesque coexist within a single sonic experience.
