Pablo Sorozabal: Choral Works II

Pablo Sorozabal: Choral Works II is the second volume of Pablo Sorozábal’s choral music. It reveals a side of the San Sebastián-born composer that his fame in zarzuela and operetta has long overshadowed.

Mario Lerena’s liner notes trace his choral writing to his boyhood singing in the Orfeón Donostiarra and to his later work with the Coro Easo and Coro Maitea. It is syllabic, folk-inspired and mostly diatonic, with canonic imitation, careful solo writing and an elegant economy. Its roots in Basque song and the cultural “renaissance” of the early 20th century turned Sorozábal into a bridge between generations once Basque activism grew in the 1960s.

The program opens with the world-premiere recording of the choral version of his Eight Songs for mixed choir and guitar, originally written for two voices and guitar in 1966 and adapted, with interludes and introductions by guitarist Marco Socías, in response to an exhortation to keep writing “new things, but ours.” It continues with a cappella pieces for low voices from Chantons mes chers amis, the double-chorus Nahi zuya yin? in its original c. 1924 version, ¡Ay tierra vasca! and the beloved Maite, and a group of a cappella songs for women’s choir. Recorded at the EASO Choir headquarters in Aiete, San Sebastián, the album puts Basque choral tradition back at the centre of Sorozábal’s work.

Kea Vocal Ensemble
Enrique Azurza, conductor
Coro Easo
Gorka Miranda, conductor
Marco Socías, guitar