Portuguese Tributes to Beethoven

Featuring

Elliot Lawson
Luís Pacheco Cunha
Isabel Pimentel
Catherine Strynckx
Taíssa Poliakova Cunha
Katharine Rawdon

Paulo Gaspar
Quarteto Lopes-Graça
João Domingos Bomtempo
César Viana
Jaime Reis

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Performer Biography

The Quarteto Lopes-Graça, an ensemble specializing in recent and contemporary Portuguese music, has received support from the Portuguese Ministry of Culture for projects promoting new Portuguese music.

Album & Artwork

This recording project, "Portuguese Tributes to Beethoven," was conceived for Beethoven's 250th anniversary in 2020.

Composer Biography

João Domingos Bomtempo, the most important Portuguese composer of the late-Classical and early-Romantic eras, chose to study in Paris rather than Naples, diverging from the custom of most Iberian composers.

Composer Biography

João Domingos Bomtempo was acclaimed as one of Europe's leading piano virtuosi only three years after arriving in Paris, despite the piano not being part of his formal musical education in Lisbon.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Jaime Reis's "Sangue Inverso: Quartzo" draws inspiration from Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, to create a crystalline structure based on its thematic material.

Compositional Technique

César Viana's "Laberinto del oído" includes a melody from an Alentejo song, "Ó Serpa, pois tu não ouves," as a discreet reference to Beethoven's hearing loss.

Composer's Artistic Vision

César Viana's composition "Laberinto del oído" uses melodic counterpoints to Beethoven's themes, ensuring a musical connection while making Beethoven's presence symbolic rather than actual.