Vol. 21 in the Naxos Music of Brazil series showcases the music of Oscar Lorenzo Fernández (1897–1948), who was a key figure in the cultural life of Rio de Janeiro. He gained international fame with Batuque, a piece championed by conductors such as Toscanini, Koussevitsky and Bernstein. It became something of a stand-alone hit, but it's heard on this new release in the context of the entire Reisado do Pastoreio suite. Fernández’s two symphonies suffered neglect after the composer’s untimely death at the age of fifty. These recordings of both those works are premieres: there's the world premiere recording of the powerful First Symphony, and the first modern studio recording of the programmatic Second Symphony.
Oscar LORENZO FERNANDEZ (1897–1948)
Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2
Reisado do Pastoreio
Minas Gerais Philharmonic OrchestraFabio Mechetti
Restless and dynamic by nature, Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez was a key figure in the cultural life of Rio de Janeiro, founding numerous influential musical institutions both journalistic and educational. He gained international fame for the primordial power of Batuque, the final dance movement of his Afro-Brazilian influenced Reisado do Pastoreio suite. Without ever abandoning his Brazilian roots, in his later career Lorenzo Fernandez moved away from explicit nationalism towards a more universalist idiom as can be heard in the vigorously themed and atmospheric First Symphony of 1945 and the programmatic Second Symphony, inspired by the life and death of the heroic 17th-century explorer Fernão Dias Paes Leme.
I. Allegro moderato e pesante (Enérgico)
Fabio Mechetti has been artistic director and principal conductor of the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra since its foundation. Under his leadership, the orchestra has received numerous awards, recorded nine albums, including several for Naxos, and undertaken a tour of South America. In 2014, he became the first Brazilian music director of an Asian orchestra when he was appointed principal conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. In the US, Mechetti conducted the Jacksonville Symphony for 14 years and is now its conductor emeritus.
Founded in 2008, the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra has become one of Brazil’s most successful cultural organisations. Its 90 players come from Europe, Asia and the Americas as well as from all regions of Brazil itself. The orchestra has received numerous awards and accolades, including CONCERTO magazine’s Grand Prize (2015, 2020), the Carlos Gomes Award for the best Brazilian orchestra (2012), and being named classical music ensemble of the year (2010) by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics.
– Gramophone
Te Deum • Credo
Cottini • Francesconi • Pulzi • Bruno
Concentus Musicum de Belo Horizonte
Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra
Mechetti
– Gramophone
Piano Concerto No. 1
Aurora • Concerto Fribourgeois
Rubinsky
Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra
Mechetti
– Classical Music Daily
Symphony in G Minor
O Garatuja – Prelude • Série Brasileira
Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra
Mechetti
– American Record Guide