The largest piece in this excellently realized and important collection of Latin American music for chamber orchestra is Portuguese composer Joly Braga Santos’ Concerto in D for strings. Santos eventually evolved a complex, eclectic musical idiom not too far from the expressionism of Alberto Ginastera, but for most of his career, as here, he wrote music in a highly attractive modal amalgam of Vaughan Williams and Respighi. His concerto will find immediate favor with anyone who enjoys, say, Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia, or Tippett’s Concerto for Double String Orchestra. Next up: Guarnieri’s deliciously spiky, neo-classical Concerto for Strings and Percussion, which can only be described as Bartók goes Brazilian. Turina’s Serenata is, like all the composer’s music, essentially sunny and graceful, while Villa-Lobos’ sultry, sexy Saxophone Fantasia may be merely a chip off the master’s workbench, but it’s no less typical or welcome for that. Rounding out the collection: Piazzolla’s Two Tangos for strings, and Spanish composer Andrés Gaos’ evocative, nostalgic Impresión nocturna. With such interesting repertoire, luminously recorded, and playing of such eloquence and passion, you’d have to be deaf not to enjoy this disc. [6/6/2000]
