SOMM RECORDINGS is pleased to announce the return of pianist Clélia Iruzun and the label debut of violinist Anthony Flint with Treasures from the New World, Volume 2, a revelatory compendium of sonatas and duets by five Brazilian composers who defined the sound and soul of modern Latin American music.
A champion of music from her homeland on earlier recordings for SOMM, Rio de Janeiro-born Iruzun returns to Henrique Oswald (also Rio- born) with his four-movement Violin Sonata in E major of 1908. Lightly laced with late-Brahmsian accents, it’s a work of striking contrasts, a brief Intermezzo and extended slow interlude framed by an opening movement of vivacious lyricism and an energetic, optimistic, fiery finale.
Leopoldo Miguez’s Violin Sonata in A major (1885) boasts similar lyrical richness while balancing evocative, nocturnal beauty, brisk confidence and a bracing sense of instrumental ensemble.
Completing the disc are the melodious Poema (2002) by Marlos Nobre, one of Brazil’s most exciting contemporary composers, Souza Lima’s duet arrangement of Alexandre Levy’s Tango Brasileiro, and the haunting early miniature Romanza (1917) that prepared the ground for a later trio of substantial sonatas by Francisco Mignone, a mentor and close friend of Iruzun’s since her childhood.
Informative booklet notes are provided by Robert Matthew-Walker.
Clélia Iruzun’s previous SOMM recordings include two volumes of music by Federico Mompou (SOMMCD 0121 and 0155), and the first volume of Treasures from the New World (SOMMCD 0609), with MusicWeb International praising Iruzun as being “spectacularly deft in the fine-spun piano lines” of the first recording outside Brazil of Oswald’s Piano Quintet in C major.
Her recording of Piano Concertos by Albeniz & Mignone (SOMMCD 265) with the RPO and Jac van Steen was nominated for an International Classical Music Award in 2019, and hailed by International Piano: “Clélia comes into her vivid own, playing with a superb mastery and empathy; it is difficult to imagine… greater skill and affection”.
On This Recording
-
Henrique Oswald: Violin Sonata in E major, Op.36
- Allegro moderato
- Allegretto molto moderato
- Andante molto espressivo
- Alle Francisco Mignone
- Romanza for Violin and Piano Leopoldo Miguez: Violin Sonata in A major, Op.14
- Allegro
- Andante espressivo
- Scherzo, Presto non molto
- Vivace Marlos Nobre
- Poema, Op.94 No.1 Alexandre Levy
- Tango Brasileiro (arr. Souza Lima)
Reviews:
“a delightful programme of Brazilian works that is every bit as vibrant as the previous volume. … The duo comes especially alive in the shorter works… sparky arrangements for violin and piano and finds Flint on playfully virtuosic form. The duo has a deft sense of ensemble and Iruzun is a secure and expressive presence throughout.” —Kate Wakeling, BBC Music Magazine
