There has not been much of a symphonic tradition in Portugal, but this century has thrown up two symphonists of some significance – Luis de Freitas Branco (brother of the conductor Pedro), who is absent from the catalogues, and, more importantly, his pupil Joly Braga Santos, whose own protege Alvaro Cassuto is opening our eyes and ears to his stature. His First and Fifth Symphonies (Marco Polo, 7/98) came as something of a revelation: here again we have one work from each of his two contrasting compositional periods.
If you have got this far, you will already have an idea of what awaits you in the music of Braga Santos. So I would just give a brief summary about the composer. He lived from 1924 to 1988 where he died as a result of a stroke. Although he was composing through the middle of the 20th century, for much of the time he avoided the musical trends of the period, obviously thinking there was still more that could be said within a tonal framework. Around 1960 he changed his style of composition, exploring the musical trends that had been occurring during his life. He wrote his first four symphonies in a short period between the ages of 22 and 27. These are all a product of his tonal period, and to any lover of the Romantic Symphony, all four are deserving of being in their collection.
Joly Braga Santos (1924-1988) was Portugal's best-known composer of the twentieth century. His work displayed little national flavor; it incorporated various foreign influences and changed according to prevailing trends, yet displayed a consistent melodic inclination and rhythmic verve that are recognizable across stylistic lines. His six symphonies are his best-known works, but the Naxos label's Marco Polo imprint, dedicated to the exploration of unfamiliar repertories, has issued a series of discs devoted to other music by Braga Santos in recent years. This set of orchestral pieces spans his entire career, from the 20-year-old composer's Nocturno for strings to the Concerto for cello and orchestra and Staccato brilhante, written in the last year of his life.
Hearty thanks to Marco Polo for finding another lost gem. Braga Santos (1924-1988) was born in Portugal and, through his teacher, Luis de Freitas Branco, inherited a fondness for music that mixed elements of Modernism with Portuguese Renaissance polyphony. Yet Vaughan Williams is the greatest influence in Braga Santos's music. Braga Santos, like Vaughan Williams, hunted down and extensively used folk melodies, folk songs, and anonymous sacred compositions for church services.
For a time, composer Joly Braga Santos occupied a space in Estado Novo Portugal similar to that of Joaquín Rodrigo in Spain, writing attractive tonal works in a style somewhat insulated from contemporary developments.
Joly Braga Santos was Portugal’s greatest orchestral composer, and this recording presents eight world premiere recordings including his very first work for orchestra, the Symphonic Overture No. 1. This and the Symphonic Overture No. 2 share a unified structure and lyrical themes, contrasting with the somber Prelude, originally written for an intensely tragic opera. Braga Santos’s characterful four ‘miniatures’ are brought together to form an attractive suite, while his only Piano Concerto is a virtuoso spectacle with a large part for percussion and a gloriously anarchic approach to timbre and tonality. Born in Rijeka in 1981, Goran Filipec studied at the Ino Mirkovich Academy in Croatia, at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and the Conservatoire national superieur de musique et de danse de Paris. During his early career, he was a top prizewinner of several international piano competitions. He performs across Europe, the US, South America and Japan as a recitalist and as a soloist with leading orchestras.