Francisco Coll’s relationship with the Valencia Youth Orchestra continued in July with the premiere of a new cantata In Extremis for choir and orchestra. The premiere took place at the Roman Theatre of Sagunto, with two further performances at the Auditorio de Segorbe and Auditorio de Teulada. The piece uses a Latin text by the Roman poet Catullus, specifically the poem XXXII of the series ‘Love Poems’. This serves as the basis for the work’s three-fold structure as Coll describes:
‘The piece is divided into 3 movements each corresponding to different scenes in the poem - request, orgy and regret... the orchestration is designed as a ‘massive voice’ made up of individual voices.’
‘With the excellence of the cantata In Extremis Francisco Coll justifies his status as composer in residence [with the Valenica Youth Orchestra]. Its three movements are handled by a large and constantly spectacular orchestral apparatus in which the choir are treated as another member of the instrumental family…’
Levante (Alfredo Brotons), 31 July 2012
‘The piece is divided into 3 movements each corresponding to different scenes in the poem - request, orgy and regret... the orchestration is designed as a ‘massive voice’ made up of individual voices.’
‘With the excellence of the cantata In Extremis Francisco Coll justifies his status as composer in residence [with the Valenica Youth Orchestra]. Its three movements are handled by a large and constantly spectacular orchestral apparatus in which the choir are treated as another member of the instrumental family…’
Levante (Alfredo Brotons), 31 July 2012