Bruno Monteiro & Joao Paulo Santos: Music For Violin & Piano - 20th Century and Forward
Etcetera

Having given his attention to Erich Wolfgang Korngold on his previous release, violinist Bruno Monteiro now presents works by five different composers. Ably accompanied by pianist Joao Paulo Santos, with whom Monteiro has partnered for two decades, the violinist couples treatments of sonatas by Edward Elgar and Claude Debussy with world premiere recordings of pieces by Luiz Barbosa and Ivan Moody before ending the set with Maurice Ravel's Tzigane. A graduate of the Lisbon National Conservatory and currently Director of Musical and Stage Studies at Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos (the Lisbon Opera House), the Portuguese violinist has partnered with Santos on many recordings, including ones featuring material by Stravinsky, Chausson, and Villa-Lobos, and shows once more his command of a broad repertoire.

Monteiro and Santos have delivered concert performances of the five works many times, and it shows in the fluidity of their treatments and the authority with which they're executed. While all are dramatically different in character, four of the pieces emerged during the same era, the first quarter of the twentieth century; composed in 2020, Moody's Ascent is the outlier in that regard. Even though the Ravel work follows Moody's in the album sequence, a through-line from the previous century to the current one is established by the selections.

One of three chamber pieces written towards the end of his career, Elgar's1918 Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor, Op. 82 begins with a zestful “Allegro risoluto” that the duo attacks tenaciously. A romantic theme quickly emerges that's articulated with precision and followed by lyrical others that arrest the tempo with dreamy languor. The recital partners adapt to the work's rapid shifts in tempo and mood with authority, their execution confident and transitions seamlessly effected. Naturally slower, the aromatic, ABA-structured “Romance” follows a sweetly melodic dialogue with a central episode highlighted by a tender and beautifully paced violin expression. The closing “Allegro non troppo” caps the work with material that initially exudes serenity before surrendering to a more passionate impulse and an intense, declamatory re-voicing of the initial theme.

Debussy was in ill health during the writing of his Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor but mustered the energy to complete it in 1917, a year before his death. He premiered it in Paris on May 5th, 1917 with violinist Gaston Poulet in the last public appearance by the composer. A sombre tone informs the opening movement, yet enough atmospheric sparkle surfaces to identify it as the handiwork of the French composer. Departing dramatically from the first part, the lively second, “Intermede,” mixes Spanish- and jazz-tinged elements into an intoxicating blend, after which the exuberant “Finale” advances through radiant field of playful gestures, with Monteiro's darting violin leading the charge. Barbosa, who was born in Lisbon in 1887 and died there sixty-five years later, was celebrated as a great violinist and teacher. Monteiro honours him as a composer, however, in presenting his only known work, a lovely if short salon-styled piece titled Romance for Violin and Piano. Open-hearted and uplifting, the work would seem to be an ideal encore choice, especially when it's only three-and-a-half minutes long.

Born in 1964, Moody studied with, among others, John Tavener, and is known for works that, at least by title, show some kinship with his late teacher, ones such as Passion and Resurrection (1992) and Akathistos Hymn (1998). One of his final works—Moody died in 2024 twelve days after Monteiro and Santos's recording was made—Ascent for Violin and Piano was written during the pandemic and dedicated to the duo in memory of composer Isadora Zebaljan, who passed away during that time. Moody wanted the material to exude an ethereal and meditative character and asked the two to imagine Isadora's spirit rising to heaven as they performed this delicate, hushed elegy. During the twelve-minute piece, long violin tones are sustained in the instrument's upper register as sparse sprinkles of piano ascend upwards to convey ascent.

June 2024