Joly Braga Santos

[vandermolen]

Well, Jorge, I'm extremely jealous that you saw Braga Santos's Symphony No 4 LIVE in concert  . What an experience - that is really exciting. I love much of the music (hence the Avatar) and No 4 is my favourite.

Welcome to the GMG Forum.

Jeffrey

[one_o_six]

Thanks everybody for the kind comments.
I've been around before, in another thread, but I had to give up. The regular check of replies to posts (way of saying) made me find Braga Santos-related posts.
I really cannot waste time in forums, I do have a lot of work (perhaps it'll be better next week).
Although I find it difficult to discuss music listening (as well as to discuss sound) in a written form (instead of direct speech discussion), I've tried a lot in the past (for example in Audio Asylum), and did in a lot in local forums (I'm a moderator in http://www.audiomania.com.pt/index.php?board=15.0), but along time I found out myself just mentioning music listening.
That's perhaps because I wake up with music and get asleep with music, every single day. Other than traffic news, all I hear in the car (one to two hours per day...) is music, almost all the free time I have is devoted to listening (sometimes I spend the whole weekend alone, listening), I even watch TV with no sound, because there's music being played in the hi-fi system. I suppose the only place I don't listen that often, other than work, is in the beach.
That's quite logical, I think, given the money I've spent so far in recordings and hi-fi...
BTW, this evening listening will concern Prom 16 (Wagner, Beethoven and Dvorak).

While forums member, I posted a concert review here and there, and once was kindly invited to submit a review in The Bruckner Journal, probably my sole musical critic experience

I would rate that live 4th of October 2008 among my best 3 or 4 personal musical events. Haven't rated all musical experiences, of course, but a live Beethoven 9th (by the same performers), a very special event (long story), and perhaps a harpsichord recital (mostly Soler music) by Mayako Sone would probably also take part in such list.
(Already bought tickets for another live Beethoven 9th, by the same suspects, in... June 2011!)

Braga Santos isn't my overall favorite composer (long story), but is perhaps my favorite Portuguese composer, although I like many of them (such as Carlos Seixas, Bontempo and Freitas Branco).
Anyway, orchestral music being, definitively, my cup of tea, symphonies rule, and Braga Santos' 4th among them.
I confess I don't like chamber that much, far from it (few exceptions comprise D.956), and sung music even less. I suppose everybody has his own bizarre preferences...

Yes, I do live in the Lisbon area, for almost forty years, and had already lived next door to the Gulbenkian Foundation headquarters. Posters with music stars were my landscape for years, some famous names seemed to look at me when I was waiting for the bus very early in the morning :-)
Alas, I couldn't always afford tickets, and nowadays they tend to be pricier and pricier, so I must confine myself to few concerts per season, given the Gulbenkian one usually brings here the cream of classical performers (one advantage of being in Europe), and that has a cost; sometimes I must opt for another hall and orchestra(s), mainly for financial reasons...

There's another good hall (Casa da Musica) and orchestra (Orquestra Nacional do Porto) in Porto, but gas and pay toll don't help attending their performances :-(

These money constraints make me balance between two actual needs, live concerts and big loudspeakers, and I end up myself with none of them!

[Mirror Image]

Thanks Jorge for that great response!

[vandermolen]

The latest issue of Gramophone Magazine announces that Naxos are to record the orchestral work of Braga Santos with Alvara Cassuto and the Scottish National Orchestra. This is great news, especially for the former self-styled 'Braga-Santos Experts' of this forum. Interesting too, if this is true, that Naxos are not simply reissuing the old Marco Polo series with the same conductor but different orchestra on the Naxos label.  Hopefully this will make the music of this self-effacing Portuguese composer much better known to a wider audience.  Symphonies 1-4 (and especially 3 and 4 in my opinion) are wonderful works, worthy to stand alongside the symphonies of Sibelius and Vaughan Williams.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The latest issue of Gramophone Magazine announces that Naxos are to record the orchestral work of Braga Santos with Alvara Cassuto and the Scottish National Orchestra. This is great news, especially for the former self-styled 'Braga-Santos Experts' of this forum. Interesting too, if this is true, that Naxos are not simply reissuing the old Marco Polo series with the same conductor but different orchestra on the Naxos label.  Hopefully this will make the music of this self-effacing Portuguese composer much better known to a wider audience.  Symphonies 1-4 (and especially 3 and 4 in my opinion) are wonderful works, worthy to stand alongside the symphonies of Sibelius and Vaughan Williams.

I am still here! As Honorary BSE.


(Good news, Jeffrey!)

[vandermolen]

I am still here! As Honorary BSE.


(Good news, Jeffrey!)

Very pleased to hear it - after all you were the Honorary founder of the group. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Very pleased to hear it - after all you were the Honorary founder of the group. 

Yes, that was a memorable moment in GMG history... :

Okay, I'll come clean! I must speak out! This is going too well... This whole thread has been an experiment (conducted by Dundonnell, vandermolen, Christo and other so-called 'Braga Santos experts') to see whether an inordinate amount of enthusiasm could persuade people to buy CDs by a deservedly unknown third-rater from Portugal (of all places). I was the first victim of this 'viral' scam. Only shame prevented me from disclosing the terrible truth earlier.

Sorry, guys, you're on Candid Camera Musica.

[SonicMan46]

Thanks everybody for the kind comments...........

I've been around before, in another thread, but I had to give up. The regular check of replies to posts (way of saying) made me find Braga Santos-related posts.....................

Yes, I do live in the Lisbon area, for almost forty years, and had already lived next door to the Gulbenkian Foundation headquarters..................

Hello Jorge - welcome to the GMG Forum & thank you for the posts in this thread - if not already done, you might consider posting an introduction in that section - won't take much of your time! 

In the mid-1970s, my wife & I took a week vacation in Portugal - mainly Lisbon and the environs and also a short visit to Madeira (believe that I still have some slides that I could digitize!) - we had a wonderful time (although a governmental coup occurred in the middle of our stay - not a major problem, though); I've been a 'vintage port' collector for years, so now I wished that we had been there 2 weeks - I would have visited Oporto and the Douro River and its wine areas.

Hope that you enjoy & find the time to post - 

[Mirror Image]

Even Vaughan Williams' slow movements can't compare to the passionate second movement of the second symphony!

I realize this was written four years ago, but I whole-heartedly disagree! RVW's slow movements are incredible, but Braga Santos' music is so different from his that I think, overall, the comparison between the two is way off-base.

[Daverz]

I realize this was written four years ago, but I whole-heartedly disagree! RVW's slow movements are incredible, but Braga Santos' music is so different from his that I think, overall, the comparison between the two is way off-base.

You seem overly fond of these kinds of statements.

I hear a definite resemblance between their styles.

[Mirror Image]

You seem overly fond of these kinds of statements.

I hear a definite resemblance between their styles.

A little resemblance. That is all. Yes, I'm fond of these statements because they're absolutely ridiculous. Beauty is beauty. Whether it's coming from RVW's pen or a hawk flying across the sky. Why people feel to the need to say something is more beautiful than something else that is just as beautiful is just illogical to me. That's like enjoying chocolate ice cream, but also enjoying butter pecan ice cream. Both are different, but one isn't really better than the other if a person likes them both. I mean shit this isn't a competition. Okay and the award for the most beautiful slow movements goes to....

[Daverz]

A little resemblance. That is all. Yes, I'm fond of these statements because they're absolutely ridiculous. Beauty is beauty.

That wasn't the case for btpaul674 four years ago.  Braga Santos was more beautiful for him.  If you have an aesthetic argument to make, make it, but this is just emoting and name calling ("ridiculous", "illogical", "off-base").  Attacking people for their opinions like this is simply obnoxious.

[Mirror Image]

That wasn't the case for btpaul674 four years ago.  Braga Santos was more beautiful for him.  If you have an aesthetic argument to make, make it, but this is just emoting and name calling ("ridiculous", "illogical", "off-base").  Attacking people for their opinions like this is simply obnoxious.

But it's okay for other people to attack my opinions? I recall people jumping on me here like a pack of wolves when I said I don't like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. I didn't attack this guy's opinion. I disagreed with it. I'm allowed to disagree with people right?

About my argument, I already made it.

[Philoctetes]

That wasn't the case for btpaul674 four years ago.  Braga Santos was more beautiful for him.  If you have an aesthetic argument to make, make it, but this is just emoting and name calling ("ridiculous", "illogical", "off-base").  Attacking people for their opinions like this is simply obnoxious.

Thankfully, I cannot see the refuse he calls posts, but you really shouldn't waste your breath. He's decidedly foolhardy. There's no need for you to entertain him beyond that. 

[Daverz]

Thankfully, I cannot see the refuse he calls posts

Are you using a script?

[Philoctetes]

Are you using a script?

I simply have him on ignore. I'm not using a script. I wish I was that savvy.

[Daverz]

I simply have him on ignore. I'm not using a script. I wish I was that savvy.

I don't see the option.  Anyway, ignore doesn't reduce the clutter he creates, which is the main problem.  I think there way be a way to killfile a poster with Greasemonkey.

OK, figured out where the ignore list is.

[Mirror Image]

I don't see the option.  Anyway, ignore doesn't reduce the clutter he creates, which is the main problem.  I think there way be a way to killfile a poster with Greasemonkey.

Aw, this type of post just warms my heart.

[Philoctetes]

I don't see the option.  Anyway, ignore doesn't reduce the clutter he creates, which is the main problem.  I think there way be a way to killfile a poster with Greasemonkey.

You have to click on the profile tab, first. Then, click on the modify profile tab, and you'll see the option. It clears up the clutter enough, I think.

I'll have to look into Greasfire. It sounds interesting.

[Mirror Image]

OK, figured out where the ignore list is.

Congratulations, you're a damn genius now.