Luis De Freitas Branco - Symphony No. 4 (1944)

Conducted by Alvaro Cassuto with the Ireland RTE National Symphony Orchestra.

I. Andante - 00:00
II. Adagio - 11:39
III. Allegro Vivace - 22:00
IV. Allegro - 26:05

"Symphony No. 4, composed between 1944 and 1952, and scored for four flutes, two of them doubling piccolo, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, contrabass tuba, timpani, percussion and strings, represents the culmination of his symphonic vision of monumentality in music, a kind of neo-classic late Romantic stylistic approach, following the fourmovement tradition to which he had remained faithful since his Second Symphony, composed in the 1920s."

"Dedicated to his disciple Joly Braga Santos, the Fourth Symphony is based, like the Second, on Gregorian chant. Used as a means to unify much of the thematic material which appears in the work, it also establishes, right from the start, a mood which prepares the listener for the chorale-like passages which constitute big climaxes in the first and last movements. Suffice it to say, there is no question that this work is the most creative, appealing, and accomplished of Freitas Branco's four symphonies."

"The first movement opens with a Kyrie played by the woodwind and punctuated by open fifths in the strings. The following Allegro, starting in the strings in the low register, builds up to a climax where the strings play the theme, punctuated by harsh and ominous chords from all the woodwind, brass and percussion. This movement follows the traditional ABA form, in which A has three clearly identifiable sections. B (the development section) starts with a four horn call in unison, answered by all strings in triplets, and after a climax of highly dissonant syncopated chords from the whole orchestra, the second A section (the recapitulation), reappears in the low strings. This very basic analysis does not, however, do justice at all to the high quality of the music, its contrasts, its rich orchestration and, above all, the vitality and interior conviction which pervade this movement and the remaining three."

"The second movement is based on a kind of moto perpetuo which starts in the lower strings in 2/4 rhythm against the 3/4 metre of each bar. The main theme is an innocuous, unpretentious, and innocent phrase played by a solo bassoon, which, after a variety of adventures in different musical regions, constitutes the climax of the movement. This is succeeded by an ascending sequence of chords, supported by steady, softly repeated quarter notes played on the timpani, starting in the low register and building up to a majestic conclusion."

"The third movement is the shortest of all four, and also the most concise. It starts with an outburst of sound, one bar followed by a sustained chord, which reappears at the end, although without the sustained chord. It is actually an excerpt of the main climax of the A part of this ABA Scherzo."

"After this outburst the music starts in a faster tempo, quietly, almost a reminiscence of the Scherzo of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. The main part of the Scherzo leads directly into the B section, the Trio, a typical fandango rhythm and melody of the countryside where the composer owned an estate and composed the two folk-inspired Alentejo Suites more than twenty years earlier. The Scherzo is then repeated, ending as abruptly as it started."

"The Finale has a short majestic introduction based on a 5/4 thematic fragment which had already appeared in the Scherzo. The music proceeds at a steady slow march tempo, leading directly into the Allegro, an idyllic melodic line where the cellos are in dialogue with the flute, under and over a tremolo in the higher strings. Again, as in the first movement, there is an enormous wealth of different sections, especially some in which the melody (or what could be called a melody) is placed in the cellos and basses, doubled by the lower woodwind and brass, punctuated by accompanying chords from the rest of the orchestra in the high register. Before the recapitulation, the slow introduction reappears and the movement ends with majestic chorale-like sections in the woodwind and brass, and also in the full orchestra. When the work ends, it leaves us with a distinct need to hear it again, to try to understand the musical journey in which we have been carried along, since the, by now, distant, and almost forgotten, opening Kyrie." - Alvaro Cassuto

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Luis
• De
• Freitas
• Branco
• Symphony
• No
• 4
• 1944

[arv919]

This is great..

[George560920]

It is funny! The Building on the right hand side of the attached picture is almost exact copy of the Hungarian Parliament house in Budapest. The music is nice as well :))

[MarioSilvaBarradas]

Very beautiful portuguese music!

Mais uma prova de que temos grandes obras de grandes compositores neste país à beira mar plantado.

[DSW6698]

Thanks for this, I really enjoyed discovering this composer's symphonies.