Orchestral Works Vol. 3 (Includes Symphony No.5 for orchestra and choir)

"The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra play marvellously and John Neschling directs with great understanding. Excellent sound."
(Gramophone)

Another composer whose name and work has been a well-kept secret to the international public is the Brazilian Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993).

On the present disc, BIS continue the cycle of symphonies which started with Nos. 2 and 3 (BIS-CD-1220) and continued with Nos. 1 and 4 (BIS-CD-1290).

The reviewers have been enthusiastic, using words such as
'a rewarding discovery and a attractive listening experience' (Fono Forum) as well as praising the interpreters: 'John Neschling is brilliantly dextrous in his handling of the orchestra, who play with instinctive vigour and passion.' Now the same forces return to give us
world première recordings of the 5th and 6th symphonies, written in 1977 and 1981 respectively. Guarnieri was championed in the USA by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, and the latter described the composer as follows: 'What attracts us in Guarnieri's music is his warmth and his imagination which vibrate with a profoundly Brazilian sensibility. It is, in its most refined expression, the music of a "new" continent, full of flavor and freshness.'

Included on the disc is also Guarnieri's Suite Vila Rica, a work which originated as a film score. Consisting of ten short movements, the suite is a perfect introduction to the music of Guarnieri, combining as it does elements of popular Brazilian music, modernistic compositional techniques and, as might be expected, exciting use of the percussion.