After posts at Montserrat and Lérida, Soler came to the Spanish court at El Escorial in 1752, entered the Hieronymite order, took his vows in 1753 and in 1757 became Kapellmeister and organist of the monastery. There he met Domenico Scarlatti, to whose more than 550 harpsichord sonatas he added 144 of his own. His style is closely related to Scarlatti’s: in the recurrence of musical elements, in forms articulated by repetitions and in the use of Spanish folk music, which can also be heard here and there in the conciertos.
The only source is a copy in the archive of El Escorial entitled “Seis Conciertos de dos Organos Obligados … para la diversion del SSmo. Infante de Espana Dn. Gabriel de Bourbon”; a second part-book for the other player, perhaps Soler’s own, is lost. Apart from the three-movement Concierto No. 2 in A minor, all the conciertos have two movements: an Andante or Allegro is followed by a Minué with variations in the Spanish tradition of diferencias, and a festive movement in D major concludes the cycle. Form and content suggest entertainment music for a hall of the monastery; the compass would point to two large harpsichords, the few registration markings, however, to a double organ or two cabinet organs.
As such instruments have not survived, the two organists chose the twin organs of the Catedral Metropolitana, according to Jürgen Essl the largest surviving Baroque organs in Mexico. Jorge de Sesma did not live to see his Epistle organ completed in 1695; Joseph Francisco Nassarre Cimorra, a native of Zaragoza who had probably worked there in the workshop of Sesma’s half-brother Francisco, repaired it around 1734, built the Gospel organ in 1735 and in 1736 rebuilt the older organ as a twin. Echo divisions with small original swell devices, Rückpositive projecting into the choir, a wealth of horizontal reeds and a modified meantone tuning shape the sound; by combining stops, six cornets can be formed on each organ.
Because of the great distance between the instruments, Essl and Joseph took a pragmatic approach to the score: they did not play every passage notated in unison together, and they introduced alternations even within tutti sections so that the dialogue can be heard. The recordings were made in evening sessions from 6 to 8 May 2018; the same stay also produced their Improvisations for Two Organs. Jürgen Essl became professor at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule in 2003, where Jeremy Joseph studied with him; Joseph, winner of the International Gottfried Silbermann Organ Competition in 1999, is organist of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle.