Portuguese Music for Cello & Orchestra

Featuring

Bruno Borralhinho
Pedro Neves
Orquestra Gulbenkian
Luiz Costa
Fernando Lopes-Graça
Luís de Freitas Branco

Joly Braga Santos

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Composition History

Lopes-Graça's Concerto da Camera col Violoncello Obbligato was commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich, a renowned cellist, who premiered the work in 1967 at the Moscow Conservatory.

Composer Biography

Fernando Lopes-Graça, a leading figure in 20th-century Portuguese music, was an outspoken opponent of the Salazar régime, leading to arrests, imprisonment, and career setbacks due to his political activities.

Composition History

Luiz Costa's Poema, originally for cello and piano, was completed and orchestrated in 2008 by Pedro Faria Gomes at the request of the composer's daughter, Madalena Sá e Costa, based on Costa's original manuscript and notes.

Compositional Technique

Joly Braga Santos's Cello Concerto, one of his last works, is structured in three movements (slow-fast-slow), which is the opposite of conventional concerto form, and is sometimes described as a work for orchestra with solo cello.

Composer Biography

Luiz Costa, though less known than other composers on this album, was a prominent figure in Portuguese music in the first half of the 20th century, particularly in Porto, where he was born and lived.

Composer Biography

Luís de Freitas Branco played a key role in the Portuguese music scene in the first half of the 20th century, introducing Modernism into Portuguese music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Fernando Lopes-Graça developed an interest in traditional and folk music while in Paris, which he later incorporated into his own works in a personal way, distinct from the dictatorship's nationalist promotion of folk arts.