Hi to you all.

[vandermolen]

Yes. And being a newbie I must say how impressed I am to see all the fans and so much interest on his music at the CMF.
He is certainly a wonderful composer. I love his inspired sense of melody, his musical landscapes and, particularly in his first symphonies, what I always sensed as a very portuguese mixture of poetical intimacy and epic ideals. I appreciate the richness and transparency of his orchestration, the elegant directness of his musical speech and the simplicity and humane character of his music. Maybe this was a reflection of who was considered, by those who Knew him, as a very generous and sincere person. Indeed, in a world of so many intelectualistic "creational" dogmas, he had courage to confess he always wanted that people would really enjoy his music.
I didn't Know him personally but I do remember, during my teens, seeing him frequently at the Lisbon concerts and recitals with a very gentle and almost humble attitude.
The Portugal Som edition and, more recently, the effort to revive his work by his friend and conductor Alvaro Cassuto are much to be praised.
Maybe we may now hope seeing Joly Braga Santos in more concert programmes and listening to different interpretations of his compositions by other orchestras and conductors.

             

Thanks - and sorry for delayed response. You write very eloquently and perceptively about Braga Santos and I agree with all that you say - he is one of my favourite composers (especially symphonies 1-4 with 3 and 4 being terrific scores). Yes, he sounded like a very nice, gentle soul. Apparently he made no effort to promote his own music (so different to today's egos!) Thematically there are connections with his music and that of British composer Vaughan Williams (do you know any of his music?) Sadly, the Portugalsom label seems to have disappeared although I have managed to pick up some second hand CDs including Symphony No 4 (with choir) and Symphony 5. It would be great if the Portugalsom recordings could be reissued.

Best wishes

Jeffrey

[ccar]

Thematically there are connections with his music and that of British composer Vaughan Williams (do you know any of his music?) Sadly, the Portugalsom label seems to have disappeared although I have managed to pick up some second hand CDs including Symphony No 4 (with choir) and Symphony 5. It would be great if the Portugalsom recordings could be reissued.
Best wishes
Jeffrey

Thank you for your interesting comments. Unfortunately, the Vaughan Williams I have listened to is not much. But I remember being impressed by some works/recordings - Symphonies no.2 and no.6 by Barbirolli and particularly no.4 by Mitropoulos.    
And what particular Portugal Som recording are you looking for ?
Carlos

[vandermolen]

Thank you for your interesting comments. Unfortunately, the Vaughan Williams I have listened to is not much. But I remember being impressed by some works/recordings - Symphonies no.2 and no.6 by Barbirolli and particularly no.4 by Mitropoulos.    
And what particular Portugal Som recording are you looking for ?
Carlos

Carlos,

Perhaps you would like Vaughan Williams Symphony No 5 and 3, these are amongst his greatest works, and perhaps have the most in common with Braga Santos (Symphony No 5 in particular). The Portugalsom CD I am especially looking out for has Brags Santos Symphony No 3 with the London Symphony Orchestra. According to another Braga Santos fan here (Christo) it is a better performance than the one on Marco Polo. I'd also be interested to here the Portugalsom recordings of symphonies 1 and 2 (I have 4 and 5 in my collection).
Best wishes
Jeffrey

[Christo]

Yes. And being a newbie I must say how impressed I am to see all the fans and so much interest on his music at the CMF. He is certainly a wonderful composer. I love his inspired sense of melody, his musical landscapes and, particularly in his first symphonies, what I always sensed as a very portuguese mixture of poetical intimacy and epic ideals. I appreciate the richness and transparency of his orchestration, the elegant directness of his musical speech and the simplicity and humane character of his music. Maybe this was a reflection of who was considered, by those who Knew him, as a very generous and sincere person. Indeed, in a world of so many intelectualistic "creational" dogmas, he had courage to confess he always wanted that people would really enjoy his music. I didn't Know him personally but I do remember, during my teens, seeing him frequently at the Lisbon concerts and recitals with a very gentle and almost humble attitude. The Portugal Som edition and, more recently, the effort to revive his work by his friend and conductor Alvaro Cassuto are much to be praised. Maybe we may now hope seeing Joly Braga Santos in more concert programmes and listening to different interpretations of his compositions by other orchestras and conductors.

Warm greetings from the Netherlands! And another Braga Santos fan here. I "discovered" his music from the Portugalsom cd's, but agree with you that it is Alvara Cassuto who really put him on the map. Four years ago, I even travelled (a bi) through the Alentejo in order to learn about his most favourite landscape - which helps explain certain aspects of his wonderful music, to my ears.

Long live Braga Santos! (And now we continue bit by bit with his teacher Luís de Freitas Branco, especially with each new release of his music on Naxos, also by Cassuto. Whatdo you hold of him?)

[ccar]

Warm greetings from the Netherlands! And another Braga Santos fan here. I "discovered" his music from the Portugalsom cd's, but agree with you that it is Alvara Cassuto who really put him on the map. Four years ago, I even travelled (a bi) through the Alentejo in order to learn about his most favourite landscape - which helps explain certain aspects of his wonderful music, to my ears.

Long live Braga Santos! (And now we continue bit by bit with his teacher Luís de Freitas Branco, especially with each new release of his music on Naxos, also by Cassuto. Whatdo you hold of him?)

Christo

I am again very impressed by such genuine interest and love for a distant, unknown but talented composer. And how wonderful the idea you had of coming to the Alentejo to feel the inspiration behind the music. It is indeed a fascinating land, particularly in the Spring when the myriads of wild flowers colour the unique landscape.
I leave you a link about Luis de Freitas Branco and other Portuguese composers. I hope you may find some good references there.   
http://sites.google.com/site/patrimoniomusical/branco-luis-de-freitas

Carlos

               

[Christo]

Christo

I am again very impressed by such genuine interest and love for a distant, unknown but talented composer. And how wonderful the idea you had of coming to the Alentejo to feel the inspiration behind the music. It is indeed a fascinating land, particularly in the Spring when the myriads of wild flowers colour the unique landscape.
I leave you a link about Luis de Freitas Branco and other Portuguese composers. I hope you may find some good references there.  http://sites.google.com/site/patrimoniomusical/branco-luis-de-freitas

Carlos

Hi Carlos,

Many thanks, interesting indeed. BTW, people like me, myself including :-) manage to read Portuguese as well, as far as it doesn't differ to widely from Spanish, Latin, French, Italian, Romanian - in short, the other Romance languages that "we" learnt to read, more or less. Most of what I know about Braga Santos, I learnt from Portuguese sources.

(Well, I'm still curious after your personal opinion of the music by Luís de Freitas Branco ... :-)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I should add myself to the (exclusive) circle of Braga Santos lovers, or 'Experts' as we like to call ourselves, BSE for short. 

Joking apart - he is a wonderful composer with a remarkable stylistic affinity with some contemporary British composers, as vandermolen already said. And not only Vaughan Williams, E.J. Moeran too (he wrote a really great Symphony in G)

[vandermolen]

I should add myself to the (exclusive) circle of Braga Santos lovers, or 'Experts' as we like to call ourselves, BSE for short. 

Joking apart - he is a wonderful composer with a remarkable stylistic affinity with some contemporary British composers, as vandermolen already said. And not only Vaughan Williams, E.J. Moeran too (he wrote a really great Symphony in G)

Yes, I agree about the Moeran / BS connection. It was great to see the Moeran live in London last summer.

[ccar]

Hi Carlos,
Well, I'm still curious after your personal opinion of the music by Luís de Freitas Branco ... :-

Christo

Thank you for your interest and comments. It is not easy to give an "opinion" to the JBS and LFB "experts" of this Forum. Your love and Knowledge about the music of these Portuguese composers is very impressive.
As many have said before Luís Freitas Branco the composer certainly reflects his rich and multiple personality as a man. Through his works we may travel into very different compositional styles, coming from a cultivated aristocrat of the late XIX century, into the social and political modernistic movements of the XXth.  Some of his pieces may evoke Richard Strauss, Cesar Franck, Debussy or even the ethnic approach of Bela Bartok.  But any similarities with major composers of his own time should not demerit the character and quality of his compositions and his natural musical talent. Just look at the short but brilliant Scherzo Fastastique, composed when he was only 17, the "classical" beauty of the Cello and Piano sonata or the modernity of the string quartet.
In fact, the individual character of Luís Freitas Branco as a composer may be affirmed by his own words in an interview, published in a Lisbon newspaper when he was only 19:
   
"I have the strongest interest in proving to my country that in my music I am truly a Portuguese. .../...   It is true I have been inspired by the processes of great musicians of my time – as it must be.    But in fact there is unconsciously in my work some sort of meridionalism which does not belong to those masters – it comes from my blood."

Carlos