NUM 1110
Title: VariaçõesArtist: Maria José Souza Guedes
Composers: João Domingos Bontempo, Fernando C. Lapa, Robert Schumann
João Domingos Bomtempo (1775-1842)
Fantasia op. 6 for piano
João D. Bomtempo began his career as a composer, as a pianist and as a teacher in Paris and in London, two of the most famous European musical centers of his time. There, between 1801 and 1814, he became acquainted with the greatest classic piano and symphonic works, which undoubtedly influenced his future development as an interpreter and as a composer.
Reviews of those days confirm that he had a notorious international career. A considerable number of “premières” of his works were played and edited in Paris and in London.
Fantasy op. 6 was probably written in 1811 in London. It belongs to the variation form and it is based on a theme by one of the Paisiello’s well-known arias, which is developed into five variations.
The Introduction and the Fantasy (the last movement of this piece) are also inspired by the same theme.
The best-known Portuguese composer of the early nineteenth century proves how easily he can move within the limits of piano literature of his time. He absolutely masters the classical language, in what concerns form, contents, variation technique and musical grammar.
Although he uses a freer construction in the Fantasy, according to the spirit of that so-called musical form, there is an evident balance and deep sense of proportion throughout the whole work.
Of course Bomtempo still doesn’t dare to undertake here the bold musical gestures of his future Requiem. But as far as harmony and form are concerned, this Fantasy is an example of luminous clearness.
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NUM 1109
Title: Chamber Music (triple CD)Artists: various
Composer: António Victorino D’Almeida
Notes from the Author
I dedicate these three CD’s to my Father, who had the chance to listen to a few of them in his life.
I own him all of good in me- and also the unwholesome part of me I could get read of.
Meanwhile, there are many persons whose friendship and work this sample of my chamber music owns its materialization.
Obviously, I name the music players who had done it, the copyists who copied it, the technicians who recorded it and the Recorder, personally to Fernando Augusto Rocha, my dear friend and dedicated collaborator.
Without his precious help and participation, all these would still be alive only inside a drawer, keeping company to so many more…
I want to thank specially to the ex-Minister of Culture in Portugal, Dr. Manuel Maria Carrilho, who had disposable the sum that turned those handmade works computerized, and from there on- and only after that moment- it could be read and interpretated by the interpreters.
I also want to express my gratitude to this fiction character – named Coronel Bombarda…- that I strangely helped creating in a television show who repaid me in return in such a way that almost all of the recording and setting work could be done.
And not another word I shall say about this personage, for I believe everyone understands the message that I am longing to say…
Anyway, all this ends with another dedication to four real personages, to whom, at each and its own exceptional way – always at the moment I needed the most – where there in a inestimable manner for the fulfilment of this work:
To my wife, Sybil, Bárbara Guimarães, Maria do Céu Guerra and Madalena Garcia Reis.
In the account of the pieces, the selection did not relied on a particular preference – for there are many other works I would love to turn into life, away from the shadiest drawer- but yet to the circumstances of the moment, especially the dispensability of the music players, the studios and the copies…
I limited myself then to give some kind of a reasons’ glimpse that terminated each of those compositions.
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NUM 1108
Title: Festival Internacional de Música da Póvoa de VarzimArtist: Orquestra Sinfónica da póvoa de Varzim
Composers: Eurico Carrapatoso, Eugénio Amorim, Fernando C. Lapa, Carlos Azevedo, António Pinho Vargas
Born in Vila Real, in 1950, Fernando C. Lapa obtained his degree in Composition from the Oporto Music Conservatory, where he studied with Cândido Lima. He also attended some courses in Musical Pedagogy, Early Music, Choir Conducting, Analysis and Composition.
He has been awarded in composition competitions, having a canon of more than 100 works in almost every musical genre: choirs, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, symphony orchestras, electroacoustic music, etc. Fernando C. Lapa has also composed many soundtracks for cinema and theatre, as well as children’s works, arrangements of traditional music and a great number of other arrangements, transcriptions, orchestrations and adaptations.
Some of his works have been repeatedly played, not only in Portugal but also internationally (in Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Egypt, Mexico and USA). RDP radio and RTP television have recorded and broadcasted many concerts which featured some of his works. Lapa is also represented in several CD’s and some of his music is published in Portugal and in Germany.
He is a teacher of Analysis and Composition Techniques in the Oporto Music Conservatory, since 1984, and of Composition, in ESMAE — Superior School of Music and Performing Arts. He has also oriented several seminars, he was member of the jury in many competitions and he was artistic director in various recordings. His collaborations with magazines, newspapers and radio stations are also another part of his activity, which includes also writing liner notes for CD’s or for concert programs. Fernando C. Lapa was editor of the Music section of the arts magazine Ideias Fixas, and he is a permanent reviewer for Público newspaper, where he wrote more than 200 musical texts.
Fernando C. Lapa has conducted several choirs and other ensembles, namely the Oporto Cathedral Church Choir, the Artave Orchestra and the Academic Choir of the University of Minho. He has worked with the latter since its foundation, in 1989, until September 2004, and he has conducted more than 300 concerts — not only “a cappella” but also with piano, organ, brass quintet and orchestra.
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NUM 1104
Title: Estudos e TocatasArtist: Sofia Lourenço
Composers: Domingos Bontempo, Carlos Seixas
Sofia Lourenço
Born in Porto, belongs to the new Portuguese Pianist generation. She links her intense performance activity, as soloist and chamber music musician to the pedagogy of piano at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo / Instituto Politécnico do Porto. This vivid experience has given her determination concerning the art of piano performance and research of tradition and innovation in piano playing.
She oftens performs recitals, in artistic projects, as soloist or in a partnership, in the domain of Literature, such as in the short film Eça de Queiroz: Reality and Fiction (Ed. Instituto Camões, 2000) where she recorded the sound tracking (C. Seixas, J. S. Bach, F, Chopin, F. Schubert); she collaborated with the writers Mário Cláudio, 30 years of Literary Work, Letras em Trânsito – Porto 2001 European Capital of Culture – Vasco Graça Moura, 35 years of Literary Work and with the actor António Durães The piano in the poetry of Jorge de Sena, in several Portuguese concert halls, like Gulbenkian Museum, Europarque, Teatro Rivoli, Eng. António de Almeida Foundation, Salão Árabe do Palácio da Bolsa e no Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian, in Paris. She was recently soloist with Orquestra Nacional do Porto, under the direction of José Luís Rodilla, and with Orquestra do Norte, under the direction of Ferreira Lobo.
She obtained the highest Degree of Porto’s Music Conservatory, and has equally a Master Degree in German and English Literature by the University of Porto. She also got at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, the Superior Artistic Diploma of Piano Soloist (Künstlerische Abschluprüfung Klavier), and during 4 years at this academy, she has been rewarded with a scholarship by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation(1987-1991).
In Portugal during 10 years she was a pupil of the great Portuguese Pianist Helena Costa and in Germany of the pianists Georg Sava e Laszlo Simon.
Besides several prizes, recordings for Portuguese Television and Radio, she studied further under very important masters, in different countries of Europe like Sequeira Costa, Carlos Cebro, Alicia de Larrocha, Gyorgy Sebok and also Vitaly Margulis, whose pedagogy influenced her a lot and with whom she mantains frequent contacts.
She recorded in 1999 the CD “CONTEMPORARY PORTUGUESE COMPOSERS- piano solo” (Label Numérica), with works by Vianna da Motta, Luiz Costa, Berta Alves de Souza, Maria Teresa Macedo, F. Lopes-Graça, Filipe Pires, Álvaro Salazar e Carlos Azevedo.
She actually attends PhD studies at the University of Évora under Professor Rui Vieira Nery and Professor Ulrich Mahlert (Universität der Künste Berlin).
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NUM 1103
Title: Stone FlowersArtist: Sabiá Quartet
Composers: Astor Piazzolla, Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso, H. Villa-Lobos, Neuza Teixeira, Luiz Gonzaga
Feodor Kolpachnikov
Violoncelo
Mr Kolpachnikov was born in Moscow. He began his first cello lessons at age 5. In 1999 he received a concert diploma at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and was a student of Maria Tchaikovskaia. He has participated in master classes with Leonid Gorochov, Karine Georgian, and Dimitri Jablonsky in Moskau as well as with Mike Roses in New York. Between 1996-1998, Mr Kolpachnikov was the solocellist * of the Moskau Symphonic Orchestra and in 1999 the solocellist * of the Orchestra of the Nations under the direction of Justus Franz. He has performed chamber music on tours in Germany, France, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. In July of 1996, Mr Kolpachnikov was a soloist with the Summit Music Festival in New York playing the Haydn D major cello concert as well as the Dvorák b-minor cello concert. Since 2000, he has been the second solocellist* of the Orquestra Nacional of Porto.
Birgit Laude
Violin
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Ms Laude began her violin studies at the Music University of Viena, continued at the International Cello Center in London, and completed her education with distinction at the University of Music and Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg.
She was first violin of the Aton Quartett (Schleswig-Holstein), played many concerts with the Junges Salzburger Klaviertrio and was a member of the Munich Philharmonic under the direction of Sergiu Celibidache. She has participated in many different chambers groups and as soloist in Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Egypt, Syria, Germany, U.S.A and South America. Since 1998, Ms Laude has been a member of the Sabia Quartet and a violin teacher at the Musik und Singschule Hilpoltoltstein (Germany).
Francisco Moreira
Viola & Acoustic Guitar
Born in Goiânia, Brazil, Mr Moreira began his musical studies at the Conservatory of the Federal University of Goiás, and finished at the University of Music and Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He won two prizes in the Young Instrumental Competition in São Paulo, and was a member of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Latin American “Jeunesse Musicales” Montevideo Uruguay, the Youth Symphony Orchestra World-wide “Jeunesse Musicales” Warsaw, Poland, the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists. He has participated in master classes with Max Rostal, Bruno Giuranna as well as other professors in Austria, Spain, Brazil and Germany. He has also performed in several concerts and recordings with soloists Mischa Maisky, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Boris Belkin, among others. He has been a member of the National Orchestra of Porto and viola professor in the Conservatory of Music of Coimbra since 1994.
Andrea Moreira
Violin & Voice
Ms Moriera was born in Salzburg, Austria. She completed the course of Violin and Music Pedagogy at the University of Music and Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg. She was member of the Mozarteum ChamberOrchestra and participated during their tour of Mexico and Austria. Ms Moreira was also a member of the Quartet Zugalli as a violinist as well as a singer and has performed concerts in Austria, Germany, Brazil and Portugal. In 1996 she established a duo (performing as a singer and a violinist) with the pianist Anne Marie Mennet, making many concerts in Portugal. She has lived in Portugal since 1994 and is currently teaching violin at the Music Conservatories in Oporto.
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Classical & Contemporary Music 