Notes and Editorial Reviews
BRAGA SANTOS
Alfama:
Suite.
Symphonic Overture No. 3.
Elegy in Memory of Vianna da Motta.
Variations for Orchestra. Symphonic Sketches
•
Álvaro Cassuto, cond; Royal Scottish Natl O
•
NAXOS 8.572815 (72:36)
Walter Simmons, Martin Anderson, and I all have been beating the drum for Joly Braga Santos (1924–88) in
Fanfare
for several
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years. Have you heard it?
Now that all six of Braga Santos’s symphonies have been released in recordings by Álvaro Cassuto (on Marco Polo), the conductor has turned his attention to a handful of the Portuguese composer’s smaller orchestral works. At 24 minutes, the longest of these is a suite from the ballet
Alfama
, a forgotten work until very recently. According to Cassuto’s booklet notes, both the composer and his wife had dismissed it as something of no value—a score composed in 1956 when the composer was short of cash. Nevertheless, when Cassuto became aware of it, his interest was piqued, and he himself prepared the suite recorded here. True, it is not “profound” music, but neither are
Gayne
or
Estancia
(or
Giselle
, for that matter!). The nine sections presented here—all but one of them dances for fishwives, sailors, and so on—are brightly colored (primary colors, mostly) and are hardly undistinguished, in spite of Braga Santos’s dismissive attitude. (Alfama, by the way, is a district of Lisbon particularly rich in Moorish history.)
Even older (1948) is the
Elegy in Memory of Vianna da Motta
, the Portuguese pianist and composer who studied under Liszt. Though it is youthful, it is more typical of the composer—that is to say, very fine indeed. While it sounds little like Samuel Barber, Braga Santos’s intense, even monumental, but not showy or pompous writing does suggest his American contemporary, as does the approachability of his writing, which nevertheless remains firmly committed to its own era. Another similarity between the two composers, evident here, is how they construct their music—how they tell a story, if you will.
The Symphonic Overture No. 3 dates from 1954. Here, Braga Santos marries, as he sometimes would do in his career, folkloric elements to sophisticated orchestral writing. Here, the music has a scenic grandeur that suggests Miklós Rózsa.
Again, lacking any overt local color, the Three Symphonic Sketches (1962) would not have sounded odd coming from Barber, in the economical and essentially romantic way in which Braga Santos generates and escalates 20th-century tension. The Variations for Orchestra (1976) takes this a step further, most impressively. Braga Santos’s ears were open throughout his career, and these later works demonstrate that he took in what he needed to grow, stylistically, from the musical world around him. An atmospheric and subtle work, the variations use a tougher language, but still communicate to the listener because the composer’s ideas are strong and distinctive, and because his use of the orchestra is so expert. As with
Alfama
, this is a first recording.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is a step up from some of the other orchestras used in this series—not that any of them were bad, but Braga Santos’s later scores need the refinement that they receive here. There’s no question that Cassuto is committed to this music, and he has the ability to put it across. Excellent engineering is just another reason to give this disc strong consideration, whether you are new to this composer or have been collecting the earlier discs in this series.
FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle
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Works on This Recording
1.
Elegia a Viana da Mota, Op. 14 by Joly Braga Santos
Conductor:
Alvaro Cassuto
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1948
2.
Symphonic Overture no 3, Op. 20 by Joly Braga Santos
Conductor:
Alvaro Cassuto
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1954
3.
Alfama Suite by Joly Braga Santos
Conductor:
Alvaro Cassuto
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1956
4.
Variations for Orchestra, Op. 49 by Joly Braga Santos
Conductor:
Alvaro Cassuto
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1976
5.
Symphonic Sketches, Op. 34 by Joly Braga Santos
Conductor:
Alvaro Cassuto
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1962
Sound Samples
Symphonic Overture No. 3, Op. 20
Elegia a Viana da Mota (Elegy in memory of Vianna da Motta), Op. 14
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): I. Introduction
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): II. Dance of the sailor
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): III. Pas de trois
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): IV. Dance of the fishwives
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): V. Dance of the fishwife and the longshoreman
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): VI. Dance of the girls of the neighbourhood
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): VII. Dance of the boys and girls who fill the square
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): VIII. Dance of the girls around the fire
Alfama Suite (arr. A. Cassuto): IX. Final dance
Variations for Orchestra, Op. 49
3 Symphonic Sketches, Op. 34: No. 1. Allegro
3 Symphonic Sketches, Op. 34: No. 2. Lento
3 Symphonic Sketches, Op. 34: No. 3. Allegro
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