Luís de Freitas Branco - Orchestral Works Vol. 1 (Álvaro Cassuto)

Information

Composer: Luís de Freitas Branco

• (01) Symphony No. 1
• (04) Scherzo Fantastique
• (05) Suite Alentejana No. 1

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Álvaro Cassuto, conductor

Date: 2008
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570765

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

This first volume in a projected series of Freitas Branco orchestral works nicely outlines his three principal styles. First, in the symphony, there is the influence of Franck and his school. This is so pronounced, particularly in the finale, that the result risks caricature. There is no need to describe the music in any further detail: if you love Franck’s Symphony in D minor, then you’ll also enjoy this work. It’s a very, very good copy, closer to its model in sound and structure than many of the works of Franck’s immediate contemporaries (Chausson, for example, or Dukas). If you forget the fact that the symphony was composed in 1924, you certainly would think you are hearing a French piece from the 1890s.

The Scherzo fantasque also betrays a French influence, this time of the impressionists, or perhaps Dukas, in its piquant use of a smallish orchestra with plenty of colorful percussion. Suite Alentejana No. 1 reveals Freitas Branco as an ethnic nationalist, recalling Falla, particularly in the ebullient concluding Fandango. It’s a lovely work–but then all of this music is certainly worth getting to know, especially when the performances are this sympathetic and well recorded. Álvaro Cassuto is of course familiar to collectors from his series of orchestral works by Joly Braga Santos (one that I hope is ongoing–there’s still come good stuff there). He’s not only an authority on the Portuguese school, but he projects his knowledge of the composers and their various idioms with unfailing enthusiasm and stylishness, making this latest release an easy recommendation. [8/4/2008]

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/nxs70765a.php
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=6274
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2008/July08/Freitas_Branco_570785.htm
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.570765&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luis-Freitas-Branco-Orchestral-Works/dp/B001AE4PIS

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Luís de Freitas Branco (Lisbon, 12 October 1890 – Lisbon, 27 November 1955) was a Portuguese composer, musicologist, and professor of music who played a pre-eminent part in the development of Portuguese music in the first half of the 20th century. Born into an aristocratic family, Freitas Branco had a cosmopolitan education and began composing at a precocious age. He studied music in Berlin and Paris, where he worked with Engelbert Humperdinck and other composers. He became professor of composition in 1916 at the Lisbon Conservatory of Music, where he taught, among many others, Joly Braga Santos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Freitas_Branco

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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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