António FRAGOSO (1897-1918)
Complete Chamber Music for Violin
Allegro (unfinished Sonata in D), for violin and piano (1917)
[10:07]
Suite Romantique, for violin and piano (1916) [15:48]
Trio in C sharp minor, for violin, cello and piano (1916) [25:40]
Carlos Damas (violin)
Jian Hong (cello)
Jill Lawson (piano)
rec. Timbuktu Studios, Lisbon, Portugal, 21-22 May 2011. DDD
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94158 [52:27]
When his untimely death from influenza robbed Portugal of one
of its most promising young talents, António Fragoso
was working on his Violin Sonata, of which he completed only
the opening Allegro, as heard here. It is a congenially lyrical,
sunny piece, reminiscent of Franck, betraying no sign either
of the author's ill health or of the devastating war in Europe
that was going on at the time.
Fragoso's affinity with French music is flagged both by the
title and the tempo and mood markings of the four-movement Suite
Romantique. Listeners are sure to perceive the benign influence
of Fauré and Debussy in the harmonic language, not to
mention its slightly wistful melodious quality and intimate
nature.
The wistfulness morphs into shades of ambiguity and melancholy
in the ravishing Piano Trio. Mendelssohnian in its Classical
elegance and Romantic vitality, it is surely one of the finest
piano trios ever to have come out of Portugal.
Bits and pieces of Fragoso's restricted but still sizeable output
- comprising more than a hundred works - have appeared on the
Portuguese Numérica label in the last decade or so. Brilliant
seem to be the first major label to put together a monograph
- of first recordings, at that - for which they deserve handsome
credit.
The blurb boasts of an all-Portuguese cast, but Jian Hong and
Jill Lawson will likely not strike many as Portuguese-sounding
names. On closer inspection, Lawson was born in Mexico to American
and Portuguese parents, whereas Hong is northern Chinese, albeit
now living in Portugal after a spell in its former colony of
Macau. Violinist Carlos Damas's commendable debut recording
for Naxos came out last year, the Violin Sonatas of his compatriot
Luís de Freitas Branco (review).
The present disc was recorded over a year later and Damas seems
to have grown in confidence and expressiveness. Fragoso's writing
requires Lawson to be more than a mere accompanist, and she
responds with great poise to Damas. Hong's contribution is smaller
in terms of minutes, but nonetheless significant in the long,
soulful Trio.
Brilliant's engineering goes from strength to strength and the
label's recordings are nowadays reliably among the best - this
one is no different. By name alone, 'Timbuktu Studios' does
not sound the classiest of venues, but the ambience is warm
and welcoming, the balance between soloists nicely judged. There
is one minuscule blip two minutes from the end of the Trio where
the cello momentarily 'moves', but that, and the shortish running
time of the CD, are the only things that can be said about this
disc that are not entirely positive. The booklet notes by Ivan
Moody are fairly brief but interesting.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
One of the finest piano trios ever to have come out of Portugal.