The name of Claudio
Santoro does not seem to be well-known
outside his native Brazil. He barely
gets a mention in my reference sources
and I could find evidence that only
one other disc of his music is available
for purchase in the UK - a recording
of songs on the Quartz label. I don’t
usually make predictions but have a
strong feeling that this situation may
be about to change - thanks to this
splendid offering from BIS.
Santoro studied with
Nadia Boulanger in Paris just after
the Second World War. He was then unable
to go to the USA to take up a scholarship
because of his communist sympathies.
He returned to Brazil and took up a
position as head of the Music Faculty
in Brasília in the early 1960s.
Régime change a few years later
led to him being exiled in Germany until
1978. He died in Brasília whilst
rehearsing the orchestra of the National
Theatre - this is now named after him.
For more information about the composer
and his works, follow the link below.
Santoro’s music was
influenced to some degree by Villa-Lobos
but on this evidence is more tautly
constructed. It also contains strong
Brazilian influences without being overtly
nationalistic. There are 14 symphonies
in total - information which is surprisingly
lacking from the booklet - numbers 9
and 10 of which were conceived simultaneously
in a successful attempt to "deceive
death".
The disc opens with
the fourth symphony subtitled "For
peace". This is in three movements,
the first is a terse Allegro
which opens arrestingly. This is clearly
not an extant peace but one which has
to be won. The slow movement is the
longest and poignant, almost elegiac
in feeling apart from during a faster
central section with Brazilian rhythms.
The finale is a choral setting of part
of the Poem of Peace by Antoineta
Dias de Morias e Silva, beginning "Mankind
holds in its hands the defence of peace".
The context of the work is explained
by Santoro’s pupil Silvio Barbato in
the booklet. He sees it as "indisputably
composed in the mould of Soviet socialist
realism". In this context it is
worth remembering that the work is an
almost exact contemporary of Shostakovich’s
tenth symphony.
The symphony is followed
by Ponteio, an attractive miniature
for strings and apparently Santoro’s
most popular work. The ninth symphony
which follows was written almost twenty
years after its predecessor and its
genesis is wonderfully described by
Barbato who watched the composer at
work. This is classical in design –
four movements with a slow introduction
to the first, Andante con moto second
and scherzino to follow. It also
represented a return to more traditional
idioms for the composer – whilst away
in Germany he experimented with electro-acoustics.
As with the fourth symphony, this work
seems organically conceived and makes
a considerable impression. The finale
is particularly interesting. It opens
with a very brief reference to Brahms
– apparently the composer Santoro admired
most – the opening of the finale of
the second symphony, I suspect. Much
more obvious are the imaginative allusions
to the opening of the first movement
of Beethoven’s ninth symphony which
are increasingly pervasive as the movement
progresses. The concluding work, Frevo
is a rumbustious encore.
As well as being bowled
over by the music, I was also impressed
with the playing of the São Paulo
Symphony Orchestra. Brazilian born John
Neschling - a grand-nephew of Schoenberg
- has been its principal conductor since
1997 and he inspires the players in
music which often seems to require considerable
orchestral virtuosity. The chorus is
excellent too although set quite well
back in the aural image. The recorded
sound is good without perhaps being
as stunning as some recordings issued
on this label. The documentation is
full of interesting insights about the
composer if slightly lacking in factual
information about his output. Altogether
this is a very fine disc and a chance
to discover some music that surely should
be more widely known. That four years
have elapsed since it was made is a
pity but this can be forgiven if there
is more Santoro on the way.
Patrick C Waller
Link: http://www.claudiosantoro.art.br/San_Eng/open.html
*São Paulo Symphony Choir
