How refreshing to be
able to listen to a newly formed chamber
orchestra performing music by relatively
unknown composers.
This disc of music,
that avoids the same weary path so habitually
revisited by chamber orchestras, is
a revelation and it at once eliminates
all the preconceptions and prejudices,
which so easily induce weariness and
undermine objectivity.
As one might reasonably
expect, this disc by the recently established
Algarve Orchestra (2002) is devoted
to music by some of the unduly neglected,
but illustrious, names in composition
on the Iberian Peninsula during the
18th and early 19th
centuries.
The playing of The
Algarve Orchestra is never less than
passionate throughout and the ensemble
is technically and musically also much
more than simply competent. They are
in fact able to infuse their performance
with the kind of exuberance that can
only have its origins in supreme confidence
and optimism.
Arriaga, the most recognisable
of the names on the disc, and often
referred to as the "Spanish Mozart",
is represented by two works, the Overture
to his opera, Los esclavos felice,
and his Symphony in D.
The slow introduction
to the overture begins with an attractive
innocence, which soon gives way to the
kind of wit usually associated with
Haydn and an effervescence reminiscent
of Rossini. The strings, particularly
the violins, are presented with a stern
challenge, in which they acquit themselves
admirably, with the woodwinds and brass
adding welcome splashes of colour to
the sound.
The Symphony in D,
composed towards the end of Arriaga’s
exceedingly short life, maintains both
the orchestration and structural boundaries
of the classical symphony usually associated
with Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and
whilst pretty traditional in this respect
at least, there are tantalising glimpses
of a burgeoning expressive and romantic
talent.
The Algarve Orchestra,
under the baton of their conductor,
Álvaro Cassuto, gives a persuasive
performance.
Carlos Seixas, a prolific
composer of Sonatas (he is said to have
composed in excess of seven hundred,
of which barely a hundred have survived)
and esteemed friend of Scarlatti, is
represented here by his Sinfonia in
B Flat, which is distinctly Italian
in style.
The Sinfonia receives
a suitably sympathetic and idiomatic
performance, with lean and transparent
lines in the slow movement and buoyant
rhythmic impetus in the outer movements.
João de Sousa
Carvalho, António Leal Moreira
and Marcos Portugal follow the Seixas,
not only chronologically, but also historically,
in the development of Portuguese music.
The Overture ‘L’amore
industrioso’ by Carvalho, the most eminent
Portuguese opera composer of the eighteenth
century, like the Arriaga, is exquisitely
crafted music, within the traditional
structural and expressive boundaries
of the Viennese classical tradition.
The Moreira and Portugal,
by contrast, betray much more of an
Italian influence and receive performances
of consummate charm and elegance.
This disc would enrich
any respectable collection and I certainly
look forward to hearing more from the
Algarve Orchestra.
Leon Bosch
Algarve Orchestra/Álvaro Cassuto 