The hidden and charming corners that Bachcelona reveals

Holding classical concerts in unusual locations in Barcelona is one of the attractions of festivals such as the Ciutat de Clàssica, which takes place in spring, or Bachcelona, which this week closed its 13th edition with 90% occupancy, revealing to its audience the acoustic and aesthetic possibilities of the courtyard of a charming house: the former home studio of Leopoldo Pomés.

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The filmmaker had his first photography and advertising studio here, in what had been the studio of the painter of landscapes and mysterious horizons, Modest Urgell, and later the home of the dancer Àurea de Sarrà, whose wooden floorboards he wandered through like Isadora Duncan. This is where his children now shape his archive, and where, together with Óscar Tusquets, he let his imagination run wild to make the interior courtyard something unique. So unique that the architect replicated the arches of the rear façade on all four sides of the courtyard, giving it a Renaissance feel, with an indigo-blue end wall, a tiled pool, tangled plants, and cornices that underline the space, adding proportion.

Daniel Claret closes the circle and plays where Pomés made a record cover for his father, the cellist Lluís Claret.

And perhaps that's why it boasts unbeatable acoustics, oblivious to the noise of the city it's immersed in. Daniel Tarrida, the director of this festival, which won the 2021 Premi Ciutat de Barcelona for its quality and originality, but also for its ability to forge connections with various entities in the city, always has his radar on to detect these types of spaces. Venues that only accommodate 50 people, as was the case with this concert by the trio The Rest Project, but which guarantee a sensitive atmosphere.

"These are very carefully thought-out proposals in many ways, from practical aspects like agreeing on the acoustics to the aesthetics of the venue, so that it truly fits, while also giving the artist a space to develop," he notes.

Most artists feel comfortable with this type of approach, the antithesis of the stereotypical approach aimed at selling tickets to tourists. Daniel Claret, the cellist of The Rest Project, which he forms with violinist Maria Florea and viola player Lara Hernández—a name that emerged from their program The Rest is Silence —was invited by Tarrida to participate in Bachcelona's Breaking Bach, the series where experimentation with Bach's music is permitted.

And Claret (Barcelona, 1987), son of the Andorran cellist Lluís Claret—who, incidentally, Leopoldo Pomés designed an album cover for, as Poldo Pomés Jr. rightly recalls—had already been putting an experimental and poetic approach to the music scene into practice with the dance company Mal Pelo. So, naturally, his trio introduces the recitation of texts by Beckett and Rilke between pieces, as well as physical movements, always playing standing up.

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The concert, in a Guadiana-esque way, combined Bach with Ligeti, Webern, Stravinsky, and even Gerhard Kurtág, Penderecki, and Gubaidulina, 20th-century composers who perhaps offered a different kind of understanding of Bach himself. “What I think is that they demonstrate how modern Bach sounds,” Claret remarked in response to subsequent questions from the audience. They even performed John Cage's 4:33 , that piece consisting of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence... “Yes, that uncomfortable or pleasant moment, because it's true that silence scares us a lot.”

Bachcelona has earned the trust of the public, organizations, and artists. And her plan, Tarrida concludes, is to "continue touring the city."