Joly BRAGA SANTOS (1924-1988)
Symphonic Overture No. 3 (1954) [13:57]
Elegy in memory of Vianna da Motta (1948) [10:37]
Alfama: Ballet Suite (arr. Á. Cassuto) (1956)* [24:23]
Variations for Orchestra (1976)* [12:50]
Three Symphonic Sketches (1962) [10:49]
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Álvaro Cassuto
rec. RSNO Centre, Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, Scotland, 8-9 March 2011. DDD
*World Premičre Recordings
NAXOS 8.572815 [72:36]
The list of composers indebted to Naxos and its sister label Marco Polo for
giving them worldwide dissemination. grows by the month if not the day. Likewise,
many collectors such as myself will have revelled in the financially low-risk
exploration of musical byways.
Of all of the composers I have discovered solely through these labels, the
Portuguese Joly Braga Santos comes high up the list of most enjoyable discovery
of all. His six symphonies are a marvellous introduction to his highly accessible
music. They receive excellent performances from various orchestras under the
assured direction of leading Braga Santos authority Álvaro Cassuto.
This is the first Braga Santos disc on Naxos and the first time – on disc
– the Royal Scottish National Orchestra have played it. Unsurprisingly, this
is very assured all round with the orchestra sounding unfussily good. They
are caught in healthy sound at the acoustically dependable Henry Wood Hall
Glasgow by the reliable team of producer Andrew Walton and engineer Phil Rowlands.
As this is the sixth disc in the series there is a little sense of holes in
the existing recorded repertoire being plugged. Even so it makes for a varied
and pleasurable programme. The music presented here spans twenty-eight years
from when the composer was twenty-four until he was fifty-two. The CD is not
presented chronologically because, as Cassuto explains in his own brief liner,
he wished to create a concert programme rather than a sequential reference
disc. Hence the first work is the Symphonic Overture No.3.
That is a slightly dry title for an instantly appealing work which while consisting
of original themes clearly breathes Iberian air. As with so much Braga Santos,
there is strong melodic memorability here allied to open and effective scoring.
After a slow introduction the main theme flows with an appealing gallant sweep
supported by an insistent side-drum and brass flourishes. The essential mood
is vivacious and joyful although the big climax a minute or so from the end
is impassioned and powerful. There is something faintly cinematic about the
music but it sets out to please and is wholly successful.
The earliest work on the disc comes next and is much more austere and indeed
sombre.. It is the Elegy in memory of Vianna da Motta.
José Vianna da Motta was one of Liszt’s last piano pupils. He went on to become
an important figure on the Portuguese musical scene. Quite what direct link
inspired the Braga Santos composition is not clear but it resulted in an impressive
ten minute eulogy. The central section is a powerful lamenting cortege that
builds over muffled drums to an assertively emotional climax before sinking
back to the musing opening – a lovely cor anglais solo entwined with sonorous
violas.
The longest work here receives its world premiere recording. It is a suite
assembled by Álvaro Cassuto from the ballet Alfama.
According to Braga Santos’s widow the composer disowned it as unworthy and
written in too much haste. What is not clear is the narrative being portrayed
or how much of the complete score we are hearing. Alfama, by the way, refers
to the Arab neighbourhood in central Lisbon. The nine movement titles give
little away; Dance of the Sailor or Dance of the girls around
the fire, for example. Cassuto’s instinct that Braga Santos could not
write ‘bad’ music is undoubtedly right but at the same time no-one would claim
that this contains his profoundest music. It’s well-crafted, easy on the ear
music that does the job required of it. I don’t know but is it just because
I know it is from the Spanish peninsula that I hear the occasional lilt of
a Rodrigo or a de Falla here – more so than in his ‘proper’ music. Again I
expect that this has as much to do with the pictorial/narrative demands of
the piece rather than any paucity of invention. I am pleased to have heard
this music but it is undeniable that it is not much more than a well-crafted
chip off a much more major block.
There is a jump of exactly twenty years to the next work – the Variations
for Orchestra – which are also receiving their premiere recording.
By the time they were written in 1976 Braga Santos had embraced a more modernistic,
less obviously tonal approach. The change from the smilingly-sunny ballet
to the shadow-land elusiveness of the Variations is quite a jolt. Cassuto
is absolutely right in his note to say that this does not ‘sound’ like a traditional
theme and variations work. That is because the theme itself is far from obvious
and the way in which it is then varied does not always occupy the foreground
of the argument. Instead the listener is aware of a sequence of differing
moods and gestures that have the abbreviated quality of motifs rather than
the extended style of themes in the traditional sense. Quite often the emotional
world of later Malcolm Arnold sprang to mind especially in the way that the
composer moves with extreme disjunction from one section to another. This
results in clashing passages where the juxtaposition of such apparently unrelated
material can leave the listener initially confused and disorientated. Experience
tells me that repeated listening allows the brain to create a logic and impose
a sense of structure. Where this work is unusual is that Braga Santos does
not seek a wide range of moods within the variation form. Rather these are
simply variants on the main bleak and harsh atmosphere. By some distance this
is the knottiest music on the disc.
Interestingly the Three Symphonic Sketches that
complete the disc lie on a metaphorical graph line both in date terms and
stylistic evolution between the early Elegy and the late Variations. So there
are the restless ostinati of the earlier work and the powerful emotion of
the Elegy. All this is couched in a harmonic language and the gaunter orchestration
of the later work.
The more I listened to this disc the more I felt the analogy with Malcolm
Arnold to be appropriate - not in the sound as such - Arnold is the more flamboyant
and exciting orchestrator - but in the wide range of emotions and styles.
Also, with both composers I would recommend new or inquisitive listeners to
investigate their symphonies first for a sense of the 'real'
composer.
This disc encapsulates the ability of Naxos to produce discs of considerable
technical, artistic and musical merit of repertoire even knowledgeable collectors
have never encountered before. As I write this review there has been the announcement
that Naxos are increasing their prices to lift the label into the mid-price
bracket. Time will tell what impact that decision has on the curious-but-on-a-budget
collector. I would say a disc like this one might well be vulnerable. At bargain
price this might well be considered a punt but at mid-price other Braga Santos
discs should be the first port of call - his Symphony No.4 is an absolute
winner.
For those already converted to the cause of this very fine but still little-known
composer this is a high quality disc displaying an impressive range of musical
styles.
Nick Barnard
A high quality disc displaying an impressive range of musical styles.
see also reviews by Rob
Barnett and Hubert
Culot
The Braga Santos Symphonies on Marco Polo
Nos. 1/5,
3/6
No.
2
No.4