NEW ON NAXOS | JULY 2025
Oscar LORENZO FERNANDEZ (1897–1948) Piano Works Suítes Brasileiras Nos. 1, 2 & 3 Prelúdios do Crepúsculo Sonata Breve Clélia Iruzun, Piano
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Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez belonged to a key group of Brazilian composers including Villa-Lobos, Mignone and Guarneri, who radically transformed the landscape of Brazilian classical music and shaped future generations of composers. Lorenzo Fernandez was essentially a miniaturist, with many of his piano pieces being both richly inventive and short in duration. From the Iberian sonorities of earlier pieces such as the expansive Noturno , via the nationalist flavours of the Suítes Brasileiras , to his final piano work, the technically challenging Sonata Breve , Lorenzo Fernandez’s refined sophistication and originality can be heard in every piece. Key features: • With her unique combination of a colourful Brazilian spirit and profound musicianship, pianist Clélia Iruzun has become one of the most exciting musicians to arrive on the international concert scene in recent years. This recording of works by Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez is her Naxos debut, but her much-admired discography embraces a variety of repertoire. • Her most recent recording, Piano Concertos by Francisco Mignone and Isaac Albéniz with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jac van Steen was hailed by International Piano : ‘Clélia comes into her vivid own, playing with a superb mastery and empathy; it is difficult to imagine it played with greater skill and affection’.
8.574593 Release date: 25 Jul 2025 Companion titles – The Music of Brazil series
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Click to listen to Suíte Brasileira No. 1: III. Saudosa Seresta
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8.574595
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INCLUDES WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
Manuel BLANCAFORT (1897–1987) Complete Songs, Vol. 2 Cançons de muntanya Cançons per a infants * Cançons tradicionals catalanes ** Anna Alàs i Jové, Mezzo-soprano Miquel Villalba, Piano * WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING ** WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING OF ARRANGEMENT
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Manuel Blancafort’s music has a concise tonal directness that draws on his fondness for French composers. His Cançons are not simply evocative but embody an increasing use of the Noucentist aesthetic: the Catalan cultural movement of the early 20th century that was a reaction against Modernisme . Blancafort rejected the Romanticism and Wagnerian pathos of the modernist Lied in favour of Classicism and beauty – sentiments he shared with his Catalan contemporaries Toldrà, Gerhard and Mompou. Intimate, sensitive and playful, his Catalan songs connect both to his country’s past and also to a wider European musical culture. Key features: • Vol. 1 in this series is on 8.579012: ‘One would be hard pressed to imagine a more sympathetic interpreter of Blancafort’s songs than the impressive Catalan mezzo-soprano Anna Alas i Jové , whose keen artistry brings delicate nuance and subtle shadings to the Catalan texts’, wrote American Record Guide . • Pianist Miquel Villalba has recorded a sequence of five albums of Blancafort’s piano music. Vol. 3 is on 8.557334 and is praised in ClassicsToday.com : ‘Pianist Miquel Villalba upholds the reference standards he’s set in Volumes 1 and 2. His warm tone, sensitive ear for nuance, and utterly natural phrase shaping almost are as addictive as the music itself’.
8.579170 Release date: 25 Jul 2025
Companion titles – Spanish Classics
8.579012
8.574072
Click to listen to Cançons tradicionals catalanes: Muntanyes regalades
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