Your guide to classical music online

Joly Braga Santos’ Attractive Chamber Music (Volume 1)

David Hurwitz

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Toccata Classics has amassed an exceptional catalog of interesting and neglected repertoire, and this appealing release certainly fills that bill. If you’ve been following the Naxos/Marco Polo series of Portuguese composer Joly Braga Santos’ colorful orchestral works, then this series of chamber pieces offers the logical next step. The two string quartets are both early-ish, the first being rather amorphously structured but lovely to listen to, the second far more concise and no less melodically seductive. Both take advantage of the composer’s modal harmonic style at the time, reminiscent of Vaughan Williams and Respighi, with a touch of impressionist textural translucency tossed in for good measure.

The String Sextet is a late piece, dating from 1986. It’s fascinating how Braga Santos can use many of the current modernisms, from Bartókian driving rhythms, to dissonant tone clusters and a variety of purely textural sound effects, but still come out sounding like the same guy in the end. It makes a nice contrast to the honeyed sonorities of the two quartets and reveals Braga Santos’ wider expressive (not to mention compositional) range. The performances by the Quarteto Lopes-Graça (and friends) are totally committed as well as timbrally pleasing, and they are very well recorded. I look forward to further volumes in this series.

« Back to Search Results


Recording Details:

Album Title: COMPLETE CHAMBER MUSIC, VOLUME ONE
Reference Recording: None

Search Music Reviews

Search Sponsor

  • Insider Reviews only
  • Click here for Search Tips

Visit Our Merchandise Store

Visit Store
  • Ideally Cast Met Revival of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
    Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NY; March 19, 2024—The Met has revived Bartlett Sher’s 1967 production of Gounod’s R&J hot on the heels of its
  • An Ozawa Story, November, 1969
    Much has justifiably been written regarding Seiji Ozawa’s extraordinary abilities and achievements as a conductor, and similarly about his generosity, graciousness, and sense of humor
  • Arvo Pärt’s Passio At St. John The Divine
    Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, NY; January 26, 2024—When one thinks of musical settings of Christ’s Passion, one normally thinks of the