VIOLIN PORTUGUESE MUSIC

LUÍS PACHECO CUNHA, VIOLINO / EURICO ROSADO, PIANO /

PEDRO WALLENSTEIN, CONTRABAIXO

I-Tunes:

Notes

The production of music for violin in Portugal is sparse and uneven, revealing from the creators (and the public) a difficult relationship with an almost \"alien\" instrument. Nowadays still, only the piano and voice manage to fill venues.

Although some interesting works are to be found in the past, the XXth century is responsible for a major shift in musical creation.

The works included in this CD are examples of excellent compositions for the instrument, at the level of the best European productions. They denote a fluid idiomaticism that reflects the trends of their time - in the baroque, romanticism, impressionism, neo-classicism or contemporary eras.

The Creators and their Music

The biographical elements at our disposal about PEDRO LOPES NOGUEIRA are almost nonexistent - a small reference in a document of the Brotherhood of St. Cecilia, from the first half of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless he left us a complete and wonderful book for the fiddle, already considered among the most important manuals produced at that time for the instrument. The Prelude and Fantazia in the 6th Tom (F Major) are full of rhythmic invention and energy.

FRANCISCO DE SÁ NORONHA became notable in our academic world (thanks to the work of Luísa Cymbron, among others) as the creator of the first examples of \"national\" Opera. But early biographers (such as Ernesto Vieira) particularly emphasize his career as a virtuoso violinist and composer of remarkable pages for the violin. An immense curiosity, self-taught skills and brief contacts with Paganini’s heir - Camillo Sivori, endowed Noronha with enormous technical virtuosity, lyricism and invention. His Variations in three voices are a tribute to Thalberg (a serious rival of Franz Liszt) and his famous \"piano for three-hand\" technique. Noronha transposes this technique for the monodic violin with incredible panache.

Although not the most significant work of Master VIANNA DA MOTTA, this Romanza excels exquisite lyricism and remarkable formal consistency. A central section in B flat Major allows the composer to use a long bridge on the way back to the original D Major. The enlightened simplicity of this miniature makes us regret even further the 

disappearance of his Sonata for violin and piano.

The Romance of LUIS BARBOSA (father of violinist Vasco Barbosa) is a delicious encore, characteristic of the repertoire of concert violinists from the beginning of the XXth century. It is particularly remarkable the development of the harmonic palette, exposing a deep influence of French Impressionism.

The cycle From overseas by CLAUDIO CARNEYRO – a renowned violinist and composer from Porto - written between 1925 and 1926 - was his first set of pieces dedicated to his wife, Catherine Hickel, also a violinist. She was responsible for its première in the USA (Worcester), in 1926. Carneyro reveals himself as a young composer in search of a national language, still under a strong influence of French romanticism – mainly Fauré and Franck. The programmatic inspiration - allusions to sea traveling, the saudade – sail in very patriotic waters.

The discovery of this Nocturne of JOLY BRAGA SANTOS was a very pleasant surprise for the author of these notes. It explores the density of sound, breathing deeply even in the extreme high pitch of the violin, serving a plaintive phrasing in a very expressive yet complex way. Perhaps the main originality of this composition consists on the frequent and very inspired change of registers, adding to great drama.

The work was premiered in 1942 by Silva Pereira and João de Freitas Branco.

This Four Miniatures by FERNANDO LOPES-GRAÇA, were composed in 1980. These are pieces of very contrasting character and discursive resources that, like most other works the composer wrote for this ensemble, contain moments of great melodic inspiration, painstaking rhythm and timbre and a clear but never ostentatious virtuosity.

DANIEL SCHVETZ is the only non-Portuguese presence in this project. It is justified not only by his long residence among us - generating interesting fusions of musical influences – but also by the main factor determining my choice of the contemporary authors in this collection - the friendship that binds me to them and many years of working together. 

In Ejstake there are abundant Latin rhythmic references and a very lively contrast with the traditional nostalgic \"gesture\" one tends to find among the Portuguese creators.

\"Inspired by my two and a half years old son Pedro’s drawings, which he named freely from his imagination, I composed a series of four works - Paskut, for violin and piano, Recherarat, for bass and piano, Os Cupc for violin, bass and piano, and finally Ejstake, for violin and bass.\" [Author’s note]

LUIS TINOCO dedicated this work to Luis Pacheco Cunha in 1997. 

Although the title might suggest a set of three instruments or a tripartite form, it is indeed written for a violin and piano duo, and consists of four different sections. The idea of the Triptych comes as a result of the superposition of three voices, presented by the violin and the left and right hands of the piano. This process is present throughout the first three sections but, towards the end of the piece, the horizontal lines tend to mingle and, in the final bars, the violin plays a \"faraway chant\" doubling the high notes of the piano’s \"clusters\". [Author’s note]

The Crude is the third incursion of composer CÉSAR VIANA into the dreams - rather, the nightmares – of D. Pedro and D. Inês de Castro. This version for solo violin - following the setting for large orchestra and chamber group (eight elements) - reveals a remarkable synthetic capacity and programmatic cohesion, recreating idioms that are new frontiers for the instrument and its performers.

Graffiti, a work by AMÍLCAR VASQUES-DIAS, are decorative art forms that are typical of the urban landscape of the Alentejo region. They introduce elements of strong color that break the cruel sharpness of the large surfaces of white lime. This composition develops the energy emanating from this confrontation of white / anti-white culminating in 

an exuberant farandole of rhythm and color.

Notes by Luis Pacheco Cunha

Details:

Fernando LOPES-GRAÇA [Tomar, 1906-Parede, 1994]

1/4. Quatro Miniaturas [1980]

04’33’’ 1. Preludio - 2. Melodia - 3. Mandolinata - 4. Exercício

Joly BRAGA SANTOS [Lisboa, 1924-1988]

5. Nocturno [1942]

07’44’’

Amílcar VASQUES-DIAS [Badim, 1945]

6. Esgrafitos [2005] Obra dedicada a Luís Pacheco Cunha / Work dedicated to Luís Pacheco Cunha

07’23’’

Cláudio CARNEYRO [Porto, 1895-1963]

7/9. D\' Aquém e d\' Além-mar, op. 20, nº 3 (1925-26)

10’36’’ 7. Pelo oceano voga sem âncora minha nau saudade - 8. Ausência - 9. Regresso 

José Vianna da MOTTA [S.Tomé, 1868-Lisboa, 1948]

10. Romanza

04’13’’

Daniel SCHVETZ [Buenos Aires, 1955; reside em Portugal desde 1990]

11. Ejstake [1995] Obra dedicada a Luís Pacheco Cunha / Work dedicated to Luís Pacheco Cunha

06’23’’

Francisco de Sá NORONHA [V.Castelo, 1820-Rio Janeiro, 1881]

12. Variações a três vozes sobre um tema de Thalberg [Estreia moderna / Modern première]

07’56’’

Luís BARBOSA [Lisboa, 1887-1952]

13. Romance

03’28’’

César VIANA [Southampton, 1963]

14. Cru [2005] Obra dedicada a Luís Pacheco Cunha / Work dedicated to Luís Pacheco Cunha

06’59’’

Pedro Lopes NOGUEIRA [1ª metade séc. XVIII]

15/16. Prelúdio e Fantazia [Estreia moderna / Modern première]

04’12’’

Luís TINOCO [Lisboa, 1969]

17. Tríptico [1997] Obra dedicada a Luís Pacheco Cunha / Work dedicated to Luís Pacheco Cunha

06’11’’

Ref.: NUM_1214