Rediscovering Mercè Torrents’ songs for voice and piano is entering into a
sonic and poetic route traced by a woman key of her generation. She was
perfectly knowledgeable, while remaining creatively independent, of all the
musical creative currents that were happening in Europe throughout the 20th
Century.
From the impressionism of Debussy or the atonalism of Schönberg, to the latest
avant-gardes, or the different expressions of music with African American roots.
Mercè Torrents traced her free, honest, and unique path aiming only towards
where her sensitive intuition led her. An intuition soaked in different essential
elements of the context in which she lived, such as a deep sense
of Catalan identity, a wonderful instinct for poetic musicality and her condition as
a woman in an environment where female composers seemed non-existent.
These are the ingredients of the recipe for all her rich, eclectic and sincere work
that, unintentionally placed her as the leader of the moment we discovered
women also compose in our country.
JOAN VIVES