Luis de los Cobos Almaraz (
Valladolid, 20 April 1927 –
Geneva, 16 November 2012)[1] was a Spanish composer. In 1944, he was briefly jailed for taking part in protests against the
Francoist government, and after he finished his studies in 1949 he couldn't find a job since he lacked the certificate of adherence to the
Spanish State,[2] so he went to exile, settling in
Geneva after studying orchestral
conducting under
Bernardo Molinari in
Rome and
Eugène Bigot in Paris. Like
Xavier Montsalvatge and
Manuel Castillo he has been defined as a missing link in the postwar Spanish music, as he was influenced by
Shostakovichian modernism while the Spanish scene evolved from
nationalism to the
Darmstadt avantgarde through his contemporaries of the
1951 Generation.[3] He composed four operas, two symphonies, four concertos and six string quartets.[4]
Compositions
Opera
La gloria de Don Ramiro (1975)
Mariana Pineda (1982)
La Pasión de Gregorio (1983)
The Incarnation of Desire (1994)
Ballet
Winnie the Pooh (1992)
Orchestral
Symphony orchestra
Symphony No. 1 ″Cursus Vitae″ (1956)
Agonía recurrente (1966)
Symphony No. 2 ″El pinar perdido″ (2012)
String orchestra
Jungla 1967 (1967)
Chamber orchestra
SoJin Suite (música para un nacimiento y un bautizo) (1991)
Cuentos de la princesita (2002)
Concertante
Cello
Cello Concerto No. 1 (1958)
Cello Concerto No. 2 ″De la resurrección″ (1981)
Piano
Album del olvido (1982), for two pianos and orchestra
Guitar
Concierto de Nerja (1991)
Violin
Concierto de los cercos (1995)
Rapsodia de la espera (2004)
Chamber music
Duos
Nana de la madre pobre (1952), for cello and piano
Elegía a las manos de una muchacha (1952), for cello and piano
Retrato del olvido y ojos de pájaro herido (1983), for cello and piano
Duo para violín y viola (1985)
Sonata del cisne (2003), for violin and piano
Nana del Campogrande (2006), for violin and piano
Trios
Blue Talks (1987), for two pianos and percussion
Quartets
String Quartet No. 1 ″De la pequeña muerte″ (1978)
String Quartet No. 2 ″Una princesa de Kranach en el tren″ (1983)
Serenata caprichosa (1987), for flute, bassoon, harp and guitar
String Quartet No. 3 ″La nada y el mar″ (1988)
String Quartet No. 4 ″De la ausencia″ (1993)
String Quartet No. 5 ″Del ensueño″ (1999)
String Quartet No. 6 ″Juego de la vida y de la muerte″ (2000)