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António Fragoso: Chamber Music The brevity of the life of António Fragoso was truly a tragedy for Portuguese music. His life was a shooting star, leaving us to wonder how much more brightly he would have shone had he lived, and how much more he might have contributed to the course of music in twentieth century Portugal. His death from influenza occurred only shortly after he had completed the piano course at the Lisbon Conservatoire. Fragoso left a small but vital body of work, the majority of it written for his own instrument, the piano. There survive also cycles for voice and piano, two works for violin and piano, a Trio for violin, cello and piano and a magical Nocturno, an orchestral version of an earlier piano work, given its first performance by the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra under Pedro Blanch in the year after the composer’s death. The Suite Romantique is the earlier of the two works for violin and piano, dating from 1916, the same year as Fragoso’s Trio. It comprises four movements, ‘Prélude: Modéré’, ‘Intermezzo: Très passionné’, ‘Berceuse: Très modéré’ and ‘Nocturne: Calme et doucement’. The indications in French point clearly towards the young composers’s aesthetic orientation, something confirmed by his Verlaine settings of the following year. Both Fauré and Debussy are evoked in the work, but perhaps especially the latter; the style of the ‘moto perpetuo’ figuration, for example, and the abundance of parallel chords, as well as the harmonic language and use of modalism in the opening movement, clearly suggest Debussy’s influence. The ‘Intermezzo’ that follows the opening is anything but filler: its mere 52 bars contain a veritable storm of passion, a beautifully constructed miniature drama, but with no sense of artificiality. The tension of the music arises instead from the increasing chromatic instability initiated by the opening bars. The calm ‘Berceuse’ restores tranquillity, but although the final ‘Nocturne’ is marked ‘Calme et doucement’ and its dynamics are frequently very soft, its sinuous chromatic writing suggests a darker undercurrent. Many of the characteristics of the Suite Romantique are also found in the Trio for violin, cello and piano, although this work also displays a certain classicising tendency in both the melodic style and the contrapuntal interplay between the two stringed instruments, notably in the opening ‘Allegro moderato’ and the breathtaking fourth movement. It is here that Fragoso undermines classical harmonic logic, using a series of chromatic progressions and an exploitation of the deep,
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dark timbre of the piano’s lower register, achieving a combined sense of timelessness and weightlessness. Equally weightless is the perfectly poised ‘Scherzo’, which leads the listener along increasingly unexpected harmonic pathways, pausing in unlikely places only to resume once more in new directions. The final, shining ‘Allegro’ partakes of the sinuous chromaticism of the preceding movements, but also introduces a yearning for the first movement’s classically ordered world. Luscious this finale may be, but its rhetoric is that of grandeur, not of decadence. The sole movement of the unfinished Sonata for violin and piano was written in 1917 (although 1918 has also been suggested). It shares with the outer movements of the Trio a luminously affirmative character – and a distinctively memorable melodic style – that raises questions of the character of the work’s other movements, had the composer been able to complete them. Fragoso’s contribution to the history of Portuguese music may have been small, but its intensity and imaginative flair suggest what the composer might have become had he lived. As João de Freitas Branco observed on the 40th anniversary of Fragoso’s death, ‘António Fragoso’s place was left vacant; none of the Portuguese composers of our time have brought us a message comparable to that which would have been his.’ Ivan Moody, 2011
study under Jacqueline Lefèvre and Master Ivry Gitlis, where he also met frequently with Sir Yehudi Menhuin, who gave him advice regarding violin playing and the artistic milieu. Damas premiered the Concerto for Violin by Portuguese composer Luís de Freitas Branco in Paris, and in 1993 was granted the privilege of being the only Western musician invited to play at the Fifth Art Festival of the People’s Republic of China. He has played in the most important concert venues throughout Europe, Asia and America, and has appeared at many international festivals, giving solo recitals and playing with chamber ensembles or orchestras. He has represented Portugal in several multicultural concerts, by invitation of UNESCO (Melody Dialogue Association). The composer Sérgio Azevedo dedicated one of his sonatas for solo violin to Damas, as well as his Serenade for violin and string orchestra. Damas’ album, Modern Solo Violin Music, released by Dux Recordings, was received with critical acclaim worldwide and was named Best Record by ARTEtv. Damas also recorded the violin sonatas of Luís de Freitas Branco for Naxos in 2009. www.carlosdamas.com
Jian Hong Carlos Damas Carlos Damas was born in Coimbra, Portugal and has enjoyed great international success as a violinist over the past few years. Gramophone magazine described his performing using the following words: ‘Top technical marks … Portuguese violinist Carlos Damas boasts a clear, ringing tone and impressive dexterity.’ The Strad magazine wrote: ‘… Portuguese virtuoso Carlos Damas is closer to the modern sensibilities and sound world of Thomas Zehetmair and Gidon Kremer … Damas, with lightning technical reflexes and tonal flexibility … possesses a Szeryng-like finesse.’ When Damas was three years old, he joined the Conservatório Regional de Coimbra, where he first experienced the world of music. He made his debut solo performance at the age of 15, with the Portuguese National Broadcasting Radio Symphony Orchestra. Following this, he moved to Paris to
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Jian Hong was born in Tianjin, R.P. China, to a family of musicians, her father a violinist and her mother a singer. She began studying violin at the age of five with her father, then began learning cello three years later. She attended the Beijing Central Conservatory and became first cello of the Youth Orchestra of the R.P.C. under the guidance of maestro Muhai Tang. Later, she was sent by the Chinese government to Moscow to study at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, one of the musical world’s most acclaimed schools, where she studied and worked with Master Gavrich and participated in several master-classes run by Paul Tortellier. She worked with several orchestras in Sweden, establishing residence there and receiving Swedish nationality in 1997, before becoming first cello of the Macau Chamber Orchestra and a teacher at the Conservatory of Macau. Jian Hong plays regularly in chamber music groups and has performed concerts throughout
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Europe and Asia, as well as participating in the Macau Music Festival and the Festival of Arts of R.P. China. She has worked with the most important conductors of R.P. China, including Long Yu, Yuan Fang and Muhai Tang. In 2001, she established residence in Lisboa, Portugal, and became a cellist in the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon and a teacher at the Superior National, working with internationally renowned conductors and musicians.
Jill Lawson Born in Mexico in 1974, American-Portuguese pianist Jill Lawson began her musical studies in Belgium, where she graduated with a high distinction from the Queen Elisabeth College of Music, under the tuition of Heidi Hendrickx and Levente Kende. She later studied with Jan Wijn in Amsterdam and Leon Fleisher and Ellen Mack at the Peabody Institute (Baltimore, USA) where she obtained a Masters degree in Music in 2004. Jill has won top prizes in national and international competitions, and was awarded the fourth prize at the International Schubert Competition (Dortmund, 2001), second prize at the Vianna da Motta Competition (Macau, 1997), Laureate at the Tenuto Competition (Brussels, 1995) and third prize at the Tromp Competition in Eindhoven, Holland (1996). She was also a finalist in the Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association in Indianapolis (2003). Jill performs regularly in Europe and the USA. Her recordings include the Schumann Symphonic Etudes Op.13 for the Vianna da Motta Foundation. She formed the Lawson & Lawson duo with her brother Eliot Lawson, a violinist.
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Recorded: 21 & 22 May 2011, Timbuktu Studios, Lisbon, Portugal Sound engineers: André Fernandes and Nuno Santos Mastering: Klaus Werner Piano: Yamaha CF4 Grand Piano, kindly loaned by Mr. Paulo Pimentel (www.ebanoemarfim.pt) Music Assistance: Many thanks to Mrs. Carlota Pimenta Photo of Jian Hong: Jerôme Arnouf · Photo of Carlos Damas: Maria José Palla Photos of Antonio Fragoso: ‘Antonio Fragoso Association’ Cover image: Modesto Faustini: Lovers by a Fountain Photo: private Collection / Bonhams UK / The Bridgeman Art Library Texts / Notes: Ivan Moody & 2011 Brilliant Classics
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