Fernando Lopes-Graça (1906-1994)
Divertimento Op.107 (1957)
Sinfonieta “Homenagem a Haydn” Op.220 (1980)
Cinco Velhos Romances Portugueses Op.98 (1951/6)
Quatro Invenções Op.148 – Solo Cello (1961)
Portuguese Symphony Orchestra/Bruno Borralhinho (cello)
rec. 2021, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon, Portugal
NAXOS 8.574373 [63]
Lopes-Graça's Divertimento Op.107 was composed as background music for the Portuguese pavilion at the 1957 Lausanne International Exhibition. It is scored for winds, timpani, percussion, cellos and double basses and consists of seven fairly short and quite contrasted movements. Stylistically the music may be described as some imaginary folklore in the spirit of, say, Bartók while looking back at Stravinsky. It is worth noting that the folk-influenced thematic material is the composer's own. It contains a good deal of mild dissonance and a certain amount of rhythmical unpredictability always likely to surprise. As a result, the Divertimento Op.107 manages to be entertaining while being a good example of Lopes-Graça's music making.
The Sinfonieta “Homenagem a Haydn” Op.220 was commissioned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The work inevitably calls Prokofiev's Classical Symphony to mind, in that the music clearly evokes Haydn's spirit while avoiding any pastiche or parody. The music is mostly cheerful and happy, lightly scored and full of mild irony, thus appropriately redolent of Haydn albeit revisited by Lopes-Graça. It is a really lovely work that deserves and repays repeated hearings.
The Cinco Velhos Romances Portugueses Op.98 for small orchestra shows yet another facet of Lopes-Graça's music making. The music is based on traditional material - in fact, ballads possibly of troubadour origin. The scoring for small orchestra conveniently exhibits some “old-world flavour” sometimes redolent of similar pieces by, say, Rodrigo and even Peter Warlock (his Capriol Suite). Though these ballads are mostly slow and tragic in content, two of them (the ballad of Dona Infanta and ballad of Dona Ângela) provide for some welcome contrast. This lovely piece is a most welcome addition to Lopes-Graça's discography and one to which I have already returned more than once. It is undoubtedly one of the gems in this selection.
The other gem that makes this disc indispensable is the Quatro Invenções Op.148 for solo cello composed in 1961. They are clear examples of what the composer once described as “essentially atonal dramatic expressionism”. The four pieces are exactly what the title says: inventions - melodic, rhythmic and developing variation technique based on interval cells. The set consists of four well-contrasting movements, the concluding Lento being the unquestionable high point of the set. The Quatro Invenções Op.148 are, to my mind, one of the greatest masterpieces ever penned by Lopes-Graça, taxing for sure but immensely rewarding, especially when played as they are here with impeccable technique and commitment.
I cannot find anything wrong with this most welcome release of modern readings of some pieces which have been recorded before (but long ago, indeed) and of some hitherto unrecorded works in which the Quatro Invenções must absolutely be heard. It is good to have these pieces in fine sound. This fine release is a must for anyone interested in Lopes-Graça's music but, again, others will also find much to enjoy and admire.
Hubert Culot
