This release is the first in a new series from Naxos covering Brazilian music. This has a long tradition that tends to be neglected even in Brazil, so the series is most welcome, and this group of works by Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920), known mostly as the teacher of Heitor Villa-Lobos, gets things off to a good start. Nepomuceno's claim to fame is that he was the first to introduce Brazilian national elements into concert music, although a few early piano pieces of Ernesto Nazareth might also qualify. The Symphony in G ...
Read More
This release is the first in a new series from Naxos covering Brazilian music. This has a long tradition that tends to be neglected even in Brazil, so the series is most welcome, and this group of works by Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920), known mostly as the teacher of Heitor Villa-Lobos, gets things off to a good start. Nepomuceno's claim to fame is that he was the first to introduce Brazilian national elements into concert music, although a few early piano pieces of Ernesto Nazareth might also qualify. The Symphony in G minor heard here has no national elements at all and is strongly (and competently) derivative of Brahms. The Brazilian sounds are heard in the Série Brasileira (Brazilian Suite), with hints of the maxixe dance and a batuque finale that does not quite rise to the "feverish" level promised in the album graphics. The strongest point is the slow movement "Sesta na rode," or "Nap in a Hammock," entirely evocative of its subject with its static non-tonic chords. Best of all is the opening...
Read Less
