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572334bk Branco 23/7/11 6:46 pm Page 2 Luís de Freitas Branco (1890-1955): Music for Violin and Piano matter: the Portuguese composer is very clearly indeBted his Concerto of 1916, a work that presages the new- to him in this work, as he is also in the Sonata No. 1 for found diatonicism of his second creative period, a While the great literary prophet of modernism in Branco’s most important and lasting work. His earlier Violin and Piano from 1910. This is especially oBvious phenomenon fully evident in the Sonata No. 2, written in Portugal, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), achieved, pieces meld the influences of Wagner and Liszt and at structurally. Franck’s use of cyclic structure is very 1928. The clarity of its world of neo-classical modality uniquely, a synthesis of possiBly every direction in the same time show the results of his time spent aBroad: audiBly reflected in the sonata, in the thematic cells that stands in fascinating contrast to the dreamy flow of the which the modernism for which he is acclaimed could it was a relatively short step from the quite Franckian recur and mutate throughout the work: the principal motif First Sonata, and structurally it also represents in a sense go, this chameleon-like versatility (expressed through his Sonata for Violin and Piano of 1907 to the shimmering in this case appears immediately after the exposition of a return to the classical past, though Freitas Branco heteronyms) is hardly reflected in any other artist, of his harmonic world of the utterly remarkaBle DeBussy- the first movement, which is a Bi-thematic sonata form. undertakes this return, as he does in his symphonic generation or after. This is not to say, however, that the influenced symphonic poem Paraísos Artificiais (Naxos What strikes one aBout the work, however, is the great writing from the time of the First Symphony onwards, in arts in Portugal during the first years of the 20th century 8.572059) of 1910 (whose première under Pedro Blanch variety with which Freitas Branco imBues this cyclic a quest to renew his own vocaBulary: again, there is a lacked strength: far from it. But it would have Been an in 1913 scandalized the LisBon puBlic). Equally structure, a truly impressive unity-in-diversity. Franck is constant and fruitful pull Between the Latin and the impossiBle task to imitate the range of Pessoa – in his astounding is Vathek (Naxos 8.572624), written in 1913, also present harmonically, But it is equally clear that this German (or evocation and structure: in any case a cosmopolitan Breadth he resemBles the similarly particularly remarkable for its third variation, a fugato is not a case of mere imitation: like Chausson, Freitas productive dichotomy). And it should perhaps Be inimitaBle Cavafy (1863-1933) – and, fortunately, for strings in 39 parts, foreshadowing Ligetian Branco aBsorBed Franck’s example and processed it emphasized here that Freitas Branco was a consideraBle noBody attempted to do so, though this meant that Pessoa “micropolyphony”. through his own compositional personality. In addition, melodist. Though the first movement of the Second remained a vox clamans in deserto, a voice crying in the Rather more radical, in the context of the period, was Both his melodic style and his rhythmic vocaBulary are Sonata is particularly memoraBle, the composer’s wilderness. Freitas Branco’s lack of interest in folk-music (or, to Be suBstantially different – precisely Because of the classical imaginative melodic writing is in fact evident throughout The great renaissance in Portuguese music that had more exact, his suspicion of the propagandistic uses to equilibrium innate to him. the work. Been initiated By such composers as Alfredo Keil (1850- which it could Be put), and his increasing return to the The work won first prize in a competition chaired By Freitas Branco falls into no convenient category 1907), Vianna da Motta (1868-1948) and Óscar da Silva classics, most clearly manifested in his Violin Concerto Vianna da Motta held in LisBon the following year, in (that, at least, he had in common with Pessoa), and yet he (1870-1958), was, inevitaBly, very much Built on of 1916, with its constant glances Back towards spite of its harmonic language and evolving tonality (the was one of the most accomplished and influential Franco-German models. Beethoven. By the time he came to write his First work ends in A major, having Begun in D), which were Portuguese composers of the twentieth century. His vast At the age of sixteen, Freitas Branco went to study Symphony (Naxos 8.570765), in 1924, Freitas Branco positively scandalous for the conservative LisBon milieu range makes him at the same time utterly unique and with the Belgian composer and organist Désiré Pâque, at had run the gamut of avant garde techniques and had of the time. quite inescapable. that time living in LisBon. It was Pâque who introduced exhausted what the older Vianna da Motta descriBed in a After from the Brief But lovely Prelude, written in his young pupil to the music of César Franck, whose speech on the centenary of the death of Beethoven as 1910, Freitas Branco would next write for solo violin in Ivan Moody influence on the young Portuguese composer was to Be “wearisome impressionism and orientalism”. The search paramount. Not that Franck was to Be the only thing that for a genuine Portuguese nationalism meant, for Freitas Freitas Branco aBsorBed during his studies: his practical Branco, not simply disappearing into an exotically skills as a performer, on violin, piano and organ, as well coloured IBerian sunset, But dealing with the classical as his studies in orchestration, developed under the past, and if Vianna da Motta emphasizes rather too tutelage of Luigi Mancinelli, further instruction in much, later in the same speech, the deBt his younger composition was received from Humperdinck in Berlin, contemporary had to Beethoven, one can understand that and his first experience of DeBussy’s Pelléas et such a posture must have seemed at the time, to this Mélisande provoked him later to oBserve that “That protégé of Liszt, to represent a Bastion of traditional masterpiece of modern music” was the most important compositional values. event in his artistic development, hitherto “essentially Of course there are many Beethovenian qualities in Germanic”. the First Symphony, But they lie in Freitas Branco’s sense The conflict between the German and the Latin in of formal poise, of Balanced phrasing, rather than any out- him was, in fact, to Be the spark that gave rise to Freitas and-out attempt at neo-classicism. Franck is a different 8.572334 23 8.572334 572334bk Branco 23/7/11 6:46 pm Page 4 Carlos Damas Photo: Jerôme Arnouf Carlos Damas was born in Coimbra and has established himself as a leading violinist in Portugal. At the age of Luís de three he joined the Conservatório Regional de Coimbra and at fifteen made his first appearance as a soloist, with the Portuguese National Symphony Orchestra. He FREITAS BRANCO studied with Jacqueline Lefèvre and Ivry Gitlis and was mentored by Yehudi Menhuin. He served as assistant concertmaster of the Macau ChamBer Orchestra and Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 has played in the most important concert venues in Europe, Asia and America as a recitalist, and as a soloist with orchestras and chamBer ensemBles. His Carlos Damas, Violin recording Modern Solo Violin Music was honoured as the best record by ARTE TV. Anna Tomasik, Piano Anna Tomasik Anna Tomasik was Born in Poland and started her studies in Łod´z, continuing in the Chopin Academy of Warsaw under the guidance of Jan Ekier. Her career as a solo artist started when she was still a student, having played with the Łod´z Philharmonic Orchestra and performed in several concerts throughout the country. Her career has taken her to Portugal, where she has played in concerts throughout the country, appearing both as a soloist and in chamber music. As a soloist, she Photo: Jerôme Arnouf has appeared with the Orquestra Sinfonica da RDP and with the Orquestra Metropolitana de LisBoa. She has also worked with the Fundação GulBenkian. She is a chamBer music teacher at the Escola de Musica do Conservatorio Nacional de Lisboa, and also teaches at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra. 8.572334 4.