Plínio Fernandes: Saudade
Decca Gold

In performing works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento, and others, Plínio Fernandes couldn't have chosen a better programme for his major label debut solo album. Born and raised in São Paulo, the Brazilian classical guitarist selected songs for Saudade he grew up listening to and, as he says, “fell in love with the guitar through them.” The ease and grace with which the pieces are executed reflects the deep connection he has to them as well as the many years he's spent refining his technique.

He first received guitar lessons from his father and by the age of twelve had already won national youth guitar competitions. He continued developing via private lessons, recitals, and chamber concerts before uprooting to attend the Royal Academy of Music from 2014 to 2020. With the guitarist now calling London home, the album material has taken on an even greater resonance for Fernandes: the word 'saudade,' after all, has to do with nostalgia, wistfulness, and longing, feelings he comes by honestly in living far from Brazil. The affection expressed for his home country through these performances verges on palpable.

Fernandes features guests but judiciously, with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, vocalist Maria Rita, and Sheku's violinist brother Braimah joining the guitarist on a single track apiece. The move entices in giving Saudade extra flavour without clouding the album's identity as a solo guitar statement. Fernandes likewise benefits from arrangements by Sérgio Assad, also the composer of two of the album's pieces, and Brasil Guitar Duo member João Luiz.

From his breezy essaying of Jacob Bittencourt's “Assanhado” to the lovely duet rendering of Assad's “Menino,” Fernandes' command of his instrument is resoundingly clear, though thankfully demonstrated not through showy flashes of virtuosity but in the ease and sensitivity with which he gives voice to the material. While his treatment of Villa-Lobos's 5 Preludes, W419 is superb, the guitarist's handling of songs by Jobim, Nascimento, Violeta Parra, Eduardo Lobo, and others is even more affecting for its emotional expressiveness. Beautiful renderings of Lobo's tender “Beatriz” and Assad's “Valseana,” the second movement from his Aquarelle suite, vividly capture the artistry of his execution. Whereas some are oft-covered favourites—Jobim's “The Girl From Ipanema” and “Águas de Março” and Nascimento's “Ponta de Areia”—others may be new to listeners less familiar with Brazilian music.

Luiz's stripped-down arrangements of “Ponta de Areia” and Demetrio Ortíz and Zulema de Mirkin's “Recuerdos de Ypacarai” amplify their beauty in letting their melodies sing. With Sheku's cello voicing the lead melody, Fernandes assumes a supporting though still critical role in their passionate duet of the “Aria (Cantilena): Adagio” from Villa-Lobos's Bachianas brasileiras. The hush of Braimah's violin magnifies the loveliness of Assad's lovely “Menino,” and another highlight is a stirring rendition of Angenor de Oliveira's “O Mundo É Um Moinho” for Rita's haunting vocal.

As expertly as Fernandes delivers the songs, he's also up to the considerable classical guitar challenges posed by Villa-Lobos's 5 Preludes. Simply put, his playing repeatedly dazzles as the twenty-minute set advances through its many moods. While Fernandes notes that in Brazilian music the guitar is often used as an accompanying instrument, he also stresses how well it functions as a singing, lyrical solo instrument. On Saudade, you'll find glorious illustrations of both.

September 2022