The Unión Musical Torrevejense band presented its autumn concert, “Historias del Oeste”, at the Municipal Theatre at midday on Sunday 25 October, under artistic director Carlos Ramón-Pérez.
The programme brought together music connected with the imagery of the American West, ranging from an operatic suite to works inspired by literature and soundtracks from films in the western genre.
The performance earned a standing ovation and the band responded with an encore, following a musical journey combining different composers and arrangements written for the ensemble.
From Morton Gould to Tom Sawyer
The concert opened with Morton Gould’s “Saludo Americano”, a composition introducing the American character of the repertoire through a lively rhythm and a melody with a patriotic flavour.
The band also performed the orchestral suite from Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Fanciulla del West”, in the arrangement by Johan de Meij for the concert programme.
That choice brought music originally conceived for the operatic stage into a performance whose connecting thread was the stories and landscapes associated with the American West.
Another section of the repertoire featured Franco Cesarini’s five-movement suite inspired by Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, adding a literary strand to the programme.
Its movements evoke the main character, his best friend and his sweetheart, as well as an escape from the villain and a happy ending to the adventures.
Film music without an interval
The second part followed without an interval and focused on film music, including Elmer Bernstein’s “The Magnificent Seven” in an arrangement by S. Richards.
The programme was completed by “Momento para Morricone”, drawing on Ennio Morricone’s music in an arrangement by Johan de Meij.
Melodies from western films therefore provided the final section of the concert before the audience’s response and the encore offered by the band from Torrevieja.
Ramón-Pérez’s programme brought the band tradition, opera, adventure literature and cinema together in one event, with the American West providing the shared reference throughout the performance.
The selection included Morton Gould (1913–1996), Elmer Bernstein (1922–2004) and Ennio Morricone (1928–2020), alongside Puccini’s work and Cesarini’s literary suite.
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