Oswald & Napoleão: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 64)

Featuring

Martyn Brabbins
Artur Pizarro
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Henrique Oswald
Alfredo Napoleão

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Composer Biography

Henrique Oswald, a Brazilian composer, was traumatized throughout his life by the sound of explosions after the ship he was on as a one-year-old caught fire.

Composer Biography

Henrique Oswald and Alfredo Napoleão, the two composers on this album, were born in the same year, less than three months apart, and both were child prodigies.

Composition History

Henrique Oswald's piano piece Il neige won first prize unanimously in a composition competition sponsored by the French newspaper Le Figaro, judged by a prestigious jury including Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré.

Composer Biography

Both Henrique Oswald and Alfredo Napoleão were heard by Dom Pedro II, the magnanimous monarch of Brazil who reigned from 1831 until the monarchy was abolished in 1889.

Critical Reception

Henrique Oswald's music lost favor after the 1922 'Semana de Arte Moderna' (Modern Art Week) in São Paulo, which marked the start of Brazilian modernism and a preference for nationalistic music.

Notable Performances

Alfredo Napoleão's Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 31, was first performed with orchestra on February 12, 1941, by Evaristo de Campos Coelho, who was the teacher of Artur Pizarro, the pianist on this recording.