Pablo Gomez Abalos

Fortepianist and harpsichordist. Professor of Piano, Fortepiano (historical piano) and piano biomechanics (ESMAR)

Performer and researcher of the history of the harpsichord and the piano, he has given concerts with original 1776th century instruments from museums and collections in Spain (Grabalos harpsichord and Zumpe & Buntebart 1777 pianoforte from the Museu de la Música in Barcelona and Zumpe & Buntebart 1773 pianoforte from the Esther Ciudad Caudevilla collection in Zaragoza) and Germany (Hubert XNUMX harpsichord from the Fritz Neumeyer from Bad Krozingen), as well as with copies by Kerstin Schwarz and William Jurgenson of instruments by Silbermann (1749), Stein (1782) or Schiedmayer (1798). Collaborator of the Museu de la Música de Barcelona for whom he has written, coordinated and edited the book The Zumpe & Buntebart table piano from the Museu de la Música in Barcelona (Girona: Documenta Universitaria, 2018). In 2017 he was awarded one of the prestigious Leonardo 2017 grants from the BBVA Foundation for the project: “Royal harpsichord: timbres and fantasy of the Sublime” publishing a CD with recordings on this instrument and a book that will be published soon.

Of his CD, the specialized critics have said:

"... Gómez Ábalos has given birth to a rather strange, but truly promising CD. All the works fit like a glove into a very healthy sonic schizophrenia, in which the sounds fall apart before the ear can even begin to form an idea. The most closed-minded pianists and harpsichordists will be shocked to find such a perennial resonance (which certainly takes some getting used to throughout the entire listening session), such wild dynamics and such an extremely heterogeneous timbre, but… who cares about the dogmatists!… a project that was destined to dismantle canons, which still has a long way to go, and which more than one hopes to experience live as soon as exceptionality ceases to be the norm..” (Javier Serrano Godoy, Joke no. 370).

"... A fascinating experiment is offered in this unique and unusual recording, which brings a bit of variety, research and innovation to a world of recording that is mostly repetitive and lacking in imagination and curiosity..” (Salustio Alvarado, Rhythm no. 957).

"… The term “fantasy” is extended when it is not only the notes that make our imagination fly but the hands of the performer on the keys of a special instrument, making use of what the treatises call “good taste”. The addition of a work by a less common composer is very interesting musicologically speaking and allows us to expand our knowledge about the different creators. A good treat for the ears, with very interesting presentation and explanations, which represents a milestone in the world of recording, being the first time that a roïal harpsichord disc has been recorded. Pablo Gómez is fantastic and we hope that he will delight us with more recordings of this nature..” (Àngel Villagrasa Pérez, music lover no. 280).

"... Pablo Gomez Ábalos clearly both revels in the instrument's resources and in the quirkiness of the composers; the recording is excellent, as are the booklet notes by the performer. This is the sound CPE Bach wanted for his fantasies, and we can be very grateful that instrument-maker, player and recording company have combined so effectively to make this premiere possible.” (Francis Knights, Harpsichord and Fortepiano Magazine, vol. 26, 1).

As a specialist researcher and performer of the fortepiano, in 2020, he was invited to take part in the project “The world of the pianoforte as a predecessor of the piano in the Canary Islands” organized by the Real Academia Canaria de Bellas Artes de San Miguel Arcángel and financed by the Fundación Caja Canarias. He is regularly called upon to give courses, lectures and monographs on piano interpretation, biomechanics and technique, both in Spain and abroad (Germany, Mexico, Argentina, France). In his doctoral thesis, The Art of the Clavier with Fantasies to Play. Gesture and Tempo in the Rondos and Fantasies of CPE Bach: A Reference for the Expressive Complex, has defended the creation of a “three-dimensional” musical analysis system under the concept of “expressive complex” which includes physical aspects, highlighting the instrument-performer relationship in musical creation itself.

He has been a professor of piano and musical analysis for performers at Musikeon, directing the area of ​​biomechanics and piano technique after coordinating in 2010 and 2011 the International Conference on Anatomy and Piano Technique. He is also a professor of the Master of Musicology at the University of La Rioja and is currently the academic director of the Master in Piano Technique and Biomechanics ESMAR/Musikeon. He is part of the body of music teachers of the Generalitat Valenciana and has been a teacher at the Master of Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the International University of Andalusia.

Graduated in piano and chamber music with “Honorable Mention” from the Conservatory of Music of Valencia. In that city, his main teachers were Carlos Álvarez and Luca Chiantore. He completed a postgraduate degree at the Liszt Ferenc Zeneakademia from Budapest (Hungary) with Rita Wagner and István Gulyás on piano and Sándor Devich on chamber music. Later, in Barcelona, ​​he studied fortepiano at the ESMUC with Arthur Schoonderwoerd. In 2011, he received the official title of “Master in Historical Performance” from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona/Esmuc, with the fortepiano as an instrument. In 2016, he received his PhD in Music from the University of La Rioja.

His research interests include the historical interpretation and organology of the piano and harpsichord, musicology, as well as piano technique and biomechanics. His publications include:

• “The gesture in music: analysis of Sonata II (H. 130) by Kenner and lovers I by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. In Teresa Cascudo (ed.), Music and Body, pp. 167-191 (Logroño: Calanda, 2015; 2nd revised ed. 2017)
• “From CPE Bach's Probestücke to Schumann's Studien op. 3. Two ways of thinking about body and sound on the keyboard.” In Christian Philipsen, Monika Lustig and Ute Omonsky, eds. Zur Entwicklung des Klavierspiels von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach bis Clara Schumann, pp. 131-162 (Augsburg/Michaelstein: Wißner, 2017).
• The Zumpe & Buntebart table piano from the Museu de la Música in Barcelona (Girona: Documenta Universitaria, 2018).
• "Royal Harpsichord Project: Timbres and Fantasy of the Sublime.” In Alfonso Benetti, Francisco Monteiro, Jorge Salgado Correia (Eds.) Research Hands on Piano/2018 Conference, University of Aveiro, pp. 110-126 (Aveiro: University of Aveiro, 2019).
• “Hidden stories of sound effects and timbre changes in the early piano history. A case study: the Clavecin roïal and the art of sound mutations for the musical sublime.” In Helena Marinho, Maria do Rosário Pestana, Maria José Artiaga, and Rui Penha (Eds.) Hidden archives, Hidden practices: Debates about music-making, 196-219 (Aveiro: University of Aveiro, 2020).
• “Traditions and constructive influences of the fortepiano in the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands”. In Rosario Álvarez Martínez and M.ª Salud Álvarez Martínez (Eds.) Annals of the Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts of San Miguel Arcángel, 2020, Vol. 13, pp. 165-188 (Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts of San Miguel Arcángel, 2021).
• Wagner's Royal Clavecin. An instrument for the Musical Sublime (Girona: Documenta Universitaria, in press).