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Brief notes:

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This composition won the first prize in the II Galician Composition Contest for Wind Orchestra 2009, concert section, and also was the test piece in the IV Galician Bands Contest 2010, second section. First performance was given by Galician Federation of Wind Orchestras (FGBMP), conducted by Xosé Carlos Seráns at Rosalía Theatre of A Coruña, December 30, 2009.

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Pórtico takes its title from the homonymous Pórtico da Gloria (Portico of Glory), a Romanesque portico and the Santiago de Compostela cathedral's main gate created by Master Mateo and his workshop, on the orders of King Ferdinand II of León (Spain). To commemorate its completion in 1188, the date was carved on a stone set in the cathedral and on the lintel that supports the richly ornamental tympanum. The complete three-piece set took until 1211 to completely finish; when the cathedral was consecrated in the presence of King Alfonso IX of León.

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Although divided in three movements (or miniatures) of contrasted materials, there are recurrent gestures dispersed cyclically throughout the entire composition, that could be cast in terms of a symphonic poem. Titles of each movement suggests the extra-musical idea, adding a kind of contour and unifying them. The movements are:

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I. Amencer en Santiago de Compostela (Sunrise in Santiago de Compostela). In the first part we attend a recreation of the sunrise in Santiago de Compostela. The metaphorical heart beatings introduce us from somewhere to the dark voices of the night, the sound of the town, with the thickness of the foliage, that opens the way to the morning, with the bells ringing to the new day and the such notorious theme of 'alborada' (aubade), which arises, at the last moment, as a quote from all those Galician sunrises.

 

II. No Pórtico da Gloria (At the Portico of Glory). This movement is fragmented into four small sections that guide the discourse uninterruptedly. The sections are: medieval market, code of knights, the bells ring out in the square and the troubadour. Murmurs, bustle, trotting horses, peddlers; all gathered around the portico, where we attended the performance of a troubadour, under the enigmatic echo of the cathedral bells.

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III. Batalla contra a Taifa de Sevilla (Battle against the Taifa of Seville). As in the second movement, this one is also divided into three small sections that follows each other without interruption: the expedition, the battle and the victory. As it was a reverie, we find ourselves transported into an expedition at the head of the fleet of Paio Gómez Chariño, Major Governor of the Galician Kingdom, who reconquered Seville for Castilla going up the Guadalquivir river at 1248. The expedition is built over the base of a "tamzara" rhythm, smashing and obsessive, with a constant pulse that culminates with the subsequent invasion. A theme extracted from the Galician Anthem is gradually imposed, starting from a Moorish deformation to its original form, pushing towards the music of victory, reaching its maximum splendor at the very end of the work.

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