Treasures from the New World, Volume Four: Brazilian Piano Quartets

SOMM Recordings is delighted to collaborate again with I Musicanti, directed by virtuoso double-bass player Leon Bosch and praised by The Strad for their “performances of passion and insight.” This latest release features the Brazilian-born, London-based pianist Clélia Iruzun, whose frequent SOMM collaborations include the International Classical Music Award-nominated Piano Concertos by Albéniz & Mignone with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jac van Steen.

This release highlights five notable Brazilian composers from generations that succeeded the singular Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. While their names might not be as familiar as their famous compatriot, the musical qualities of their compositions—all scored for the forces of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet—are revelatory.

The programme opens and closes with works by Edmundo Villani-Côrtes(b. 1930) who acknowledges the early influence of Shostakovich and French Impressionism. He composed his 5 Miniaturas brasileiras in 1978 for flute and piano, and their immediate success led to no fewer than seventeen transcriptions for a variety of instrumental combinations. Caratinguê, a municipality in the Southeast Region of Brazil, lends its name to the work by Villani-Côrtes that closes this programme. It combines art and folk music to conjure the lively rhythms and irresistible musical atmosphere of Brazil.

João Guilherme Ripper (b.1959), who received his D.M.A. in Composition at Catholic University of America, in Washington D.C., later served as composer-in-residence at Kean University in New Jersey, which commissioned From My Window No. 3 in 2011. Ripper describes this three-movement work—heard here in its first recording—as portraying aspects of his native city, from the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro to feelings of nostalgia.

A short Song Without Words, Canção sem palavras, is by Arrigo Barnabé (b. 1951), one of the first and most talented adherents from a movement of urban classically trained musicians in the city of São Paulo who added erudite experimentations to pop music. His varied output also includes soundtracks for around half a dozen Brazilian movies.