Portuguese classical music is not exactly front and center in the consciousness of most music lovers, but the several recordings on the Naxos label of the music of Braga Santos caused me to take notice of this CD when it came across my desk. But first, the Violin Concerto, which although composed in 1916 is just receiving its world premiere recording with this disc. Branco was probably included because he was a teacher and his favorite pupil was Santos. Branco also composed, was a critic, musicologist, essayist and lecturer. His concerto is a lyrical work tinged with melancholia; a virtuoso showoff concerto it is not.
Braga Santos lived until 1988. He had studied conducting with Scherchen, and composition at the Rome Conservatory. He studied electronic music in Switzerland but you would never know it from most of his very accessible works, which fuse Portuguese Renaissance modalities with folk music of his native Portugal. His music shows a strong sense of the dramatic. He wanted to create a Latin symphonic style and was against the prevailing rejection of monumentalism in music. Santos is considered the most important Portuguese symphonist of the 20th century.
The ballet Crossroads is based on a story of a typical Portuguese village square, where a party celebrating the engagement of a young couple is going on. There are five movements based on various dance forms, as in the Baroque period, but the harmonic design utilizes polytonality heavily. Santos’ Divertimento uses some popular themes and supports in its three movements the idea of a work with such a title suggesting a sense of fun.
The Extremadura Orchestra will probably be unknown to most readers, as is its sparsely-populated section of Spain – sandwiched in the West between Portugal and the central plains of the Iberian peninsula. It is home to some of the most important Roman ruins in the world. It looks like a fine off-the-beaten-track Spanish discovery, and the same goes for this delightful music from Portugal, which is well-played, recorded, and presented by Disques XXI-21.
– John Sunier
