BROUWER: The Book of Signs: BELLINATI : Concerto Caboclo.
Brasil Guitar Duo; The Delawere Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Amado
Naxos: 8.573603
The two major works here are both by well-established and famous composers for guitar. Leo Brouwer (born Havana 1939) is one of our most highly thought of a composer, who has written, to date, in excess of 40 solo works, eight duos, nine guitar quartets, one piece for guitar and string quartet, five works for guitar and orchestra, and finally twelve guitar concerti from 1972 – 2016. The Book of Signs is the title for his tenth, written in 2003 and to date, the only one written for more than one guitar. Set in three movements, the opening, The Signs of Memory is a fifteen minute – plus Theme and Variations and begins very seriously and dramatically on a string – heavy set of chords coloured as so often with his music by some dissonances, before the guitars enter briefly and the movement gets properly underway. From there one can follow the variations easily as guitars and orchestra swap ideas and themes, leading eventually to a final huge climax and the movement ends on a small ‘plop’ from all concerned. The second movement that is Variaciones sobre un tema sentimental is another extensive piece at 14 minutes with a beautifully warm theme that gets some lovely working out in this second set of theme and variations, before getting very animated in its middle section. It is here that one can really hear how good the guitar players are in Brasil Guitar Duo, because their playing is nothing short of phenomenal. At the end, the opening feelings return for a soothing and beautiful close. The final movement is an Allegro of fifteen minutes duration with a dancing rhythm that opens on the orchestra before the guitars enter on a deliberate set of discords, where both guitarists are racing around at a particularly fast speed. Then the notes elongate slightly to bring us an emotive idea that continues on the orchestra. From then on the various themes cross from the soloists to the orchestra, never losing the offbeat rhythmic ideas, and the occasional fast running arpeggios that opened the movement. The resultant music is often complex but never atonal and as such shows what an individual style Brouwer has, and at 45 minutes length, this has to be one of the most substantial and important concertos ever written for two guitars.
Coming from a long and rich tradition of guitar composers from Brazil, Paulo Bellinati continues the legacy of Pernambuco, Anibal Augusto Sardinha (commonly known as Garoto), Dilermando Reis, and Baden Powell, to name a few. He has composed dozens of works for solo guitar and guitar ensembles, and among his greatest accomplishments are the revival and the publication of guitar music by Garoto His Concerto Caboclo is also in three movements and is a concerto requiring great virtuosity from the duo. He uses warm luxurious harmonies and very effective techniques to pay tribute to his country’s music in this latest concerto. The opening Toada is an Andante quasi Andantino with plenty of warm writing with again a touch of the modern harmonies intermingled throughout, but quite different in style from the Brouwer. Again the playing is superbly captured. Movement two, Moda di Viola is an Adagio, which in the way that it is written, sounds at times to be almost a Moderato, but that is obviously the note values he has written the movement with. This gentle movement has some lovely, often reflective moments leading eventually to a fine climactic moment before winding down for its coda. The final Ponteado, is a vivo and dances around with a repetitive but arrestingly catchy set of rhythms leading to a fast racing idea that reminded me at times in its style of the dance episodes from Bernstein’s West Side Story (in its feel , not in its actual melodies!) This was very vibrant and full of some great writing and interesting harmonies and melodies. A final building of tension and excitement leads to a great climactic coda and a hair – raisingly difficult final workout for the soloists before the closing chords brings this lovely, almost 20 minute work to a close.
This work is more immediate than the complexities of the Brouwer, fine though that piece is. But as a pairing they complement one another superbly well, and the whole CD is brilliantly played and recorded with both works real finds, because there are not enough concertos for two guitars as it is, and finding two such excellent works as this, only wants me to be able to hear them in concert, which is what they both utterly deserve. The playing of the duo, who is Joao Luiz and Douglas Lora needs to be heard too!
Chris Dumigan
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