Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Galicia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesús López Cobos.
I - 0:00
Balada's Symphony No.6 was composed in 2005, being commissioned by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia. It was premiered on February 26 of 2006, performed by the aforementioned orchestra conducted by Salvador Mas-Conde. In the United States, it was first performed on November 2013, performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.
The piece is inspired by the bloody Spanish civil war that took place between 1936-9, being dedicated to the victims of the war. In 1936, a group of disaffected nationalist generals rose up against an increasingly revolutionary and decomposing Republican government, which resulted in the merciless fighting of a divided country and its consequent human tragedy. Balada himself states the following: "I have tried to portray the two opposing sides from a psychological perspective and, in so doing, the music brings desperate tensions as well as desolate intimate moments. The music does not present any programmatic or partisan perspective. The tragedy of the war resounds on both sides like a volcano and like an intimate dramatic cry caused by one’s own actions."
While the piece isn't programmatic in nature, Balada employs two anthems to clearly represent each side of the war. The first is Riego's anthem from 1820, which became the main hymn of the liberal uprising led by colonel Rafael del Riego against king Ferdinand VII. It became national anthem in three occassions; in the last year of the "Three Liberal Years" (1822-3), during the short-lived first republic (1873-4), and the second republic (1931-9). The second anthem is "Cara al Sol" (Facing the Sun), the 1935 hymn of the fascist movement Spanish Falange. It was a popular anthem withing the nationalist troops and became an unofficial national anthem after the war.
Written in a single movement, the symphony is part of a group of works composed during Balada's third compositional period, which combine the use of ethnic and folk melodies with avant-garde techniques. Balada had begun writing in a largely neoclassical style, but after his move to the U.S. in 1956 he absorbed the then in vogue avant-garde idioms. Balada's Symphony No.1 "Sinfonía en Negro" (1968) already anticipated this mature language by combining the avant-garde with Afro-American rhythms, but he wouldn't fully exploit this mature style until 1975 onwards.
The symphony begins with a powerful and dissonant tone cluster, symbolizing the brutality of war. Military march rhythms are then softly introduced, which partial quotes of both Riego's Anthem and Cara al Sol on woodwinds and brass. Follows an increasingly sorrowful passage that culminates in an anguished climax full of terror, like the fear and horror suffered by the whole population. The wail of sirens reminds us of the terrifying bombings. Then the anthems are more clearly delineated as a struggle begins between them, fighting for supremacy in the middle of the martial marching rhythms and fierce climaxes. Through the use of atonal music and powerful clusters, the violence of the battlefield is symbolized.
In the central section, the violin presents a deeply tragic and elegiac theme, based on a two-note melodic interval that will reappear obsessively throughout the work. The struggle between the anthems then continues with increasing dissonance and violence within a collage-like development. Contrast is brought with slower passages that return to the elegiac theme, representing the duality between the suffering of the people and the brutal violence unleashed in the battlefields, which in the end prevails. As the Cara al Sol seems to finally triumph, then dramatic, sustained notes begin the final part in which the melodic interval leads to a sorrowful climax. The final appearance of Riego's Anthem leads us to a distressing coda that tragically closes the work, as a sign of the defeat of republicans.
Picture: War Triptych (1937-8) by the Spanish painter Aurelio Arteta.
Musical analysis partially written by myself. Sources: tinyurl.com/2ynyp48d and tinyurl.com/2cfrbe3p
Unfortunately, the score isn't available.
Galicia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesús López Cobos.
I - 0:00
Balada's Symphony No.6 was composed in 2005, being commissioned by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia. It was premiered on February 26 of 2006, performed by the aforementioned orchestra conducted by Salvador Mas-Conde. In the United States, it was first performed on November 2013, performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.
The piece is inspired by the bloody Spanish civil war that took place between 1936-9, being dedicated to the victims of the war. In 1936, a group of disaffected nationalist generals rose up against an increasingly revolutionary and decomposing Republican government, which resulted in the merciless fighting of a divided country and its consequent human tragedy. Balada himself states the following: "I have tried to portray the two opposing sides from a psychological perspective and, in so doing, the music brings desperate tensions as well as desolate intimate moments. The music does not present any programmatic or partisan perspective. The tragedy of the war resounds on both sides like a volcano and like an intimate dramatic cry caused by one’s own actions."
While the piece isn't programmatic in nature, Balada employs two anthems to clearly represent each side of the war. The first is Riego's anthem from 1820, which became the main hymn of the liberal uprising led by colonel Rafael del Riego against king Ferdinand VII. It became national anthem in three occassions; in the last year of the "Three Liberal Years" (1822-3), during the short-lived first republic (1873-4), and the second republic (1931-9). The second anthem is "Cara al Sol" (Facing the Sun), the 1935 hymn of the fascist movement Spanish Falange. It was a popular anthem withing the nationalist troops and became an unofficial national anthem after the war.
Written in a single movement, the symphony is part of a group of works composed during Balada's third compositional period, which combine the use of ethnic and folk melodies with avant-garde techniques. Balada had begun writing in a largely neoclassical style, but after his move to the U.S. in 1956 he absorbed the then in vogue avant-garde idioms. Balada's Symphony No.1 "Sinfonía en Negro" (1968) already anticipated this mature language by combining the avant-garde with Afro-American rhythms, but he wouldn't fully exploit this mature style until 1975 onwards.
The symphony begins with a powerful and dissonant tone cluster, symbolizing the brutality of war. Military march rhythms are then softly introduced, which partial quotes of both Riego's Anthem and Cara al Sol on woodwinds and brass. Follows an increasingly sorrowful passage that culminates in an anguished climax full of terror, like the fear and horror suffered by the whole population. The wail of sirens reminds us of the terrifying bombings. Then the anthems are more clearly delineated as a struggle begins between them, fighting for supremacy in the middle of the martial marching rhythms and fierce climaxes. Through the use of atonal music and powerful clusters, the violence of the battlefield is symbolized.
In the central section, the violin presents a deeply tragic and elegiac theme, based on a two-note melodic interval that will reappear obsessively throughout the work. The struggle between the anthems then continues with increasing dissonance and violence within a collage-like development. Contrast is brought with slower passages that return to the elegiac theme, representing the duality between the suffering of the people and the brutal violence unleashed in the battlefields, which in the end prevails. As the Cara al Sol seems to finally triumph, then dramatic, sustained notes begin the final part in which the melodic interval leads to a sorrowful climax. The final appearance of Riego's Anthem leads us to a distressing coda that tragically closes the work, as a sign of the defeat of republicans.
Picture: War Triptych (1937-8) by the Spanish painter Aurelio Arteta.
Musical analysis partially written by myself. Sources: tinyurl.com/2ynyp48d and tinyurl.com/2cfrbe3p
Unfortunately, the score isn't available.
