Nepomuceno : Symphony in G Minor, O Garatuja Prelude, Série brasileira

Album review

Without question the figurehead of classical Brazilian music will always be Villa-Lobos. But of course, that’s not counting his friend and unfaltering mentor, Alberto Nepomuceno, the man who founded the country’s national music school. With the encouragement of Edvard Grieg, from the 1890s Nepomuceno began to explore traditional popular music in Brazil and tentatively began to incorporate it into his compositions. As time went by, he did so more and more boldly and Villa-Lobos then picked up where he left off, building on the foundations he had laid. None other than Richard Strauss conducted the opening of his O Garatuja (which is featured on this album) at the Rio Opera during his first tour of South America, just a few days before the composer’s untimely death. His Série Brasileira from 1897 paved the way for many of the Brazilian styles that later emerged, such as for Milhaud who took themes directly from music on the streets at the time and incorporated a wide variety of percussion instruments into his music. This is an impeccable orchestral composition and a testament to the excellent teaching Nepomuceno received during his long period in Europe – in Germany he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic playing two of his works, in Austria he had a famous encounter with Mahler, in France he became friends with Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Indy and he also went to Norway, Switzerland and Belgium. Here, his music is performed by a very impressive orchestra based in Belo Horizonte called the Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais. © SM/Qobuz