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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sparkling NeoClassical Piano Concertos with Brazilian Tinge, 2 May 2005
The name of composer Mozart Camargo Guarnieri was vaguely familiar to me only because I remembered that striking first name but I had never heard any of his music. He was born in São Paulo in 1907, one of nine children of music-loving Sicilian immigrants, and he had brothers named Bellini, Rossini and Verdi. After going by 'Mozart' most of his youth, he renounced the first name in early adulthood, apparently feeling it was presumptuous to be known by the name of such an indisputable genius, and from then on was known as 'Camargo Guarnieri.' He labored most of his life in the shadow of Heitor Villa-Lobos, but that didn't stop him from being a prolific composer. He was also an arts administrator and teacher, culminating in his appointment as director of the São Paulo conservatory. He wrote a public letter to all Brazilian musicians in 1950 that urged them to reject European academicism (atonality, serialism). He later rethought that, and indeed one of his piano concertos (not presented here) uses 12-tone methods. He wrote seven piano concertos and much solo piano music often played in Brazil but rarely anywhere else. On the basis of this disc I'd say that it deserves a wider audience. He was taken up by Leonard Bernstein as well as Aaron Copland, and indeed one of his symphonies, No. 4, is dedicated to Bernstein. The three piano concertos on this disc (Nos. 1, 2 & 3) are of a piece. They are characterized by French-inspired tonality (he studied for a time in Paris with Charles Koechlin), Stravinskyan rhythmic inventiveness, jazzy, almost Gershwinian harmonies and, most striking, Brazilian dance and folk-song coloring. The outer movements have an irrepressible élan, the middle movements are bluesy and hauntingly melodic. Orchestrations is brilliant and expert and make use of many native Brazilian percussion instruments--e.g., the cuica (a friction drum), the chocalho (a rattle), and the reco-reco (a scraper); one has to wonder whether those instruments were easily available in Warsaw where these recordings were made! The pianist, new to me, is Max Barros, himself a São Pauleño. He is clearly at home with the Brazilian idiom and is no mean performer. The playing is marked by crisp rhythmic thrust and clear passage work. In the middle movements he is capable of a songful legato. The Warsaw Philharmonic are veterans of recordings of music from around the world and they give the pianist able support; the conductor, Thomas Conlin, known to me primarily for his fine recordings of the music of George Crumb, is clearly in his element in this music. The recorded sound is clear and lifelike; it is slightly dry and this lends a clarity to the torrents of notes in the outer movements. This is unfailingly tuneful, tonal, rhythmically exciting music and a worthy addition to Naxos' ongoing Latin American music series. One hopes we will hear more of Guarnieri's music from them. TT=69:49 Scott Morrison
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