Camargo Guarnieri - Piano Concertos Nos. 4-6 (Max Barros)

Information

Composer: Camargo Guarnieri

1. Piano Concerto No. 4: I. Resoluto
2. Piano Concerto No. 4: II. Profundamente triste
3. Piano Concerto No. 4: III. Rapido
4. Piano Concerto No. 5: I. Improvisando
5. Piano Concerto No. 5: II. Sideral
6. Piano Concerto No. 5: III. Jocoso
7. Piano Concerto No. 6: I. Caprichoso, bem ritmado
8. Piano Concerto No. 6: II. Calmo, muito sentido
9. Piano Concerto No. 6: III. Alegre, bem ritmado

Max Barros, piano

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra

Thomas Conlin, conductor

Date: 2010

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.557667

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Review

Piano concertos by Brazil’s most important composer since Villa-Lobos

With this disc Max Barros and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Conlin complete their cycle of the piano concertos of Mozart Camargo Guarnieri. And as on their previous album (5/05), their dazzling presentation takes us on a tirelessly energetic journey into exotica, though with a marked difference. Here more approachable nationalist elements (of the sort that can be heard in Guarnieri’s endearing 50 Ponteios for solo piano) give way to an altogether more sophisticated modernism. Travelling through South America in 1941 Copland paused to admire Guarnieri’s gifts, noting a higher organisational capacity than that shown by his more famous compatriot Villa-Lobos and “a healthy emotional expression”. He might have added that for all their Brazilian and personal flavour the concertos can be relentlessly percussive with gestures assimilated from Bartók at his least compromising. Yet if the aggressive, war-like opening to No 4 is wholly typical, so is the second movement of No 5 subtitled “Sideral” (Astral) which, according to James Melo’s detailed endorsement, depicts “a state of cosmic and metaphysical contemplation”. Certainly the piano’s aria-like progression above a shimmering accompaniment is striking and so, too, is the edgy Jocoso toccata finale of No 5 (cautious listeners might like to try this first). The Sixth Concerto, here receiving a world-premiere recording, is shorter and more facile, and if all these works sometimes give the impression of someone who talks incessantly when they have too little to say, they are rarely less than fascinating. Barros delivers shoals of notes with unfaltering brio and a complete command of the idiom, and he is brilliantly partnered and recorded.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:

ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/July10/Guarnieri_8557667.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/camargo-guarnieri-piano-concertos-nos-4-5-6-mw0001989909

https://www.naxos.com/Review/Detail/?catalogueid=8.557667&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Concertos-MOZART-CAMARGO-GUARNIERI/dp/B003DQWP74

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Camargo Guarnieri (February 1, 1907 – January 13, 1993) was a Brazilian composer. He was born in Tietê, São Paulo, and studied piano, composition, and conducting in São Paulo and Paris, where his teachers include Charles Koechlin, among others. A key figure in the Brazilian national school, Guarnieri served as a conductor, a member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and Director of the São Paulo Conservatório. His extensive oeuvre includes symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, piano pieces, and songs. He was regarded by some as the most important Brazilian composer after Heitor Villa-Lobos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camargo_Guarnieri

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Born in California and raised in Brazil, since 1984 italian-brazilian-american pianist Max Barros resides in New York City, where he has performed frequently at the city’s main concert halls. Well known for his stylistic and historically informed interpretations. Barros founded the Barros Classical Consort, a period-instrument trio, and together with Stephanie Chase and Christine Gummere, he recorded the complete Trios of Luigi Boccherini and Stephen Storace on period instruments. A dedicated champion of Brazilian music, Barros has premiered and recorded several works by the nation’s foremost composers.

https://www.maxbarros.com/

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