Joly Braga Santos - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 (Álvaro Cassuto)

Information

Composer: Joly Braga Santos

• (01) Symphony No. 1
• (04) Symphony No. 5

Portuguese Symphony Orchestra
Álvaro Cassuto, conductor

Date: 1998
Label: Marco Polo
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.223879

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Review

Portugal has never figured large in our musical consciousness in England, and until very recently the name of Joly Braga Santos (who died just ten years ago) had been all but unrepresented in the record catalogue here. But when reviewing some string works of his (Koch Schwann, 10/97) I drew attention to his quite considerable output; and the appearance of the present disc (the precursor of more with his compositions) suggests that a symphonist of some stature has been overlooked.

His First Symphony, created in 1946 at the age of 22 in memory of those fallen in the Second World War, is couched in a largely modal idiom with some kinship to Sibelius and, more particularly, Vaughan Williams, and reveals a gift for structure, highly effective orchestration and for the writing of long, flowing melodic lines. But the Fifth Symphony of 20 years later (which won a UNESCO prize) – of which there was once a Decca LP recording – is a totally different matter. Scored for a huge orchestra including a 12-man percussion section who in the fascinating second movement handle an absolute forest of marimbas, it colourfully reflects the composer’s visit to Mozambique (then a Portuguese colony) and is written in a wilder, completely atonal but not dodecaphonic idiom – though it ends unexpectedly on a chord of F major.

The composer’s close friend Alvaro Cassuto, director since its foundation only five years ago of the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra (left alone in the field after the radio disbanded its own orchestra), has moulded it into a body of international quality: its deeply committed performances here impressively make us aware of Braga Santos. Fantastic recorded sound, especially in the Fifth’s massive, cataclysmic finale.

-- Lionel Salter, Gramophone

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Joly Braga Santos (May 14, 1924 – July 18, 1988) was a Portuguese composer and conductor. He studied violin and composition at the National Conservatoire of Lisbon, and was a disciple of Luís de Freitas Branco. After the Second World War, he was able to go abroad, having studied conducting with Hermann Scherchen and Antonino Votto, and composition with Virgilio Mortari. Braga Santos was considered the leading Portuguese composer of the 20th century. He wrote six symphonies, three operas, chamber music for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles, film scores, and several choral works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joly_Braga_Santos

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Álvaro Cassuto (born 1938) is a Portuguese composer and conductor. He was born in Porto, Portugal, and studied in Lisbon and Berlin. Cassuto has been music director of the Portuguese Radio Symphony, the New Portuguese Philharmonia, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Algarve Orchestra and the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Koussevitzky Memorial Prize. Cassuto has recorded many highly successful CDs for the Strauss, Portugalsom, Marco Polo and Naxos record labels, notably a series of recordings of Portuguese composers for Naxos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_Cassuto

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