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Danças Brasileiras - Minczuk

Danças Brasileiras - Minczuk

BIS  BIS-SACD-1430

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral


Alberto Nepomuceno: Garatuja – Prelúdio, Batuque, Alexandre Levy: Samba, Heitor Villa-Lobos: Dança Frenética, Francisco Mignone: Congada, Oscar Lorenzo Fernández: Batuque, Camargo Guarnieri: Três Danças para Orquestra, Edino Krieger: Passacalha para o Novo Milênio, Antônio Carlos Jobim: A Chegada dos Candangos, Clóvis Pereira/César Guerra-Peixe: Mourão

São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Roberto Minczuk (conductor)


Dance and Brazilian music are often regarded as more or less synonymous, in the same way that the samba to many of us is Brazilian dance! But the many acclaimed recordings by the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra of symphonic works, tone poems and operas by Villa-Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri and other Brazilian composers, have demonstrated the variety of their national music, and in the same way this disc brings proof of the rich and many-faceted nature of Brazilian dance.

Alongside the ubiquitous samba, the batuques, congadas and mourãos included here give us hints of the fascinating universe of regional and ethnic traditions that make up Brazil.

It is a fact that dance music, in all its variety, has played an important part in the development of Brazilian art music: as the search for a national identity intensified, Brazilian composers turned to the popular traditions of the cities and countryside for their material. This process began in earnest around 1890 with Alexandre Levy’s Samba and Alberto Nepomuceno’s Batuque, early examples of a Brazilian art music which draws heavily on the dance rhythms of popular music.

Similar cross-fertilization between genres has become a time-honoured tradition, employed by the composers included in this selection and many others. Notable latter-day examples are Antônio ‘Tom’ Jobim of bossa nova-fame and his Chegada dos Candangos from 1960 and Edino Krieger’s Passacaglia for the New Millennium, first performed in December 1999 by the very team that has recorded it here.

Roberto Minczuk has previously led the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in acclaimed performances of Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras on BIS, and here returns with this colourful collection of dances for symphony orchestra.

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Review by Graham Williams - January 8, 2012

There could be no more enjoyable start to the New Year than settling down to listen to 'Danças Brasileiras', a captivating and superbly recorded SACD. It is sure to banish any winter blues.

BIS have already shown their commitment to the music of Brazil in earlier recordings on CD of symphonic works by Cláudio Santoro, Francisco Mignone and Carmago Guarnieri and more music by these two latter composers also appears on this disc.

Two pieces by Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) open the programme in ebullient style. The prelude to 'Garatuja,' an unfinished opera, is by turns, cheerfully sprightly, grand and packed with good tunes. 'Batuque' from 'Série Brasileira' introduces the familiar samba rhythm that also characterises the pieces by Alexandre Levy (Tr.3) and Lorenzo Fernandez (Tr.6) in which the orchestra really let their collective hair down! The 'Dança Frenética' of Villa-Lobos is almost a miniature tone poem and is notable both for its imaginative scoring and concision.
Guarnieri's 'Three Dances for Orchestra' are quite entrancing, particularly the lilting central 'Dança Negra'. These amiable pieces are in sharp contrast to Edino Krieger's initially sombre 'Passacalha para o Novo Milênio' whose opening bears an unlikely resemblance to that of Bartok's 'Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste' before adopting a more wistful mood. Antônio Carlos Jobin's foot-tapping 'A Chegada dos Candangos' and Clovis Pereira's arrangement of Guerra-Peixe's 'Mourão' complete this exhilarating collection.

Those who are familiar with such works as Respighi's 'Brazilian Impressions' and Milhaud's 'Saudades do Brazil' will find all this life-enhancing music much to their taste. The kaleidoscopic orchestrations and infectious Latin rhythms are quite irresistible when played with such commitment and flare as here by the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Roberto Minczuk.

The recordings were made in April (Tr. 1-11) and December 2003 (Tr. 12) in the Sala São Paulo. All are marvellously natural with just the right level of ambience captured by the engineers to ensure the atmosphere of a concert acoustic without any blurring of orchestral detail. Informative notes on the music's history by Cacá Machado complete the package. Why it has taken eight years for this spectacular disc to be released remains something a mystery.

'Danças Brasileiras' definitely deserves an unqualified top recommendation.

Copyright © 2012 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

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