Claudio Santoro was one of Brazil’s leading composers, having written a considerable amount of solo, chamber and orchestral music, including arguably the most important symphonic cycle ever written in that country. The fifteen Fantasias Sul América, composed as competition pieces for individual instruments, represent fascinating syntheses of his style heard in compressed form. Freely atonal and highly virtuosic, these pieces are now standard repertoire for Brazilian soloists, and were even used later by Santoro as material for his Symphony no.12 (Naxos 8574406). The youthful Sonata for Solo Violin is a work of extraordinary density and experimentation that reveals an aesthetically consistent dialogue with the much later Fantasias.

This release is another addition to the ‘The Music of Brazil’ series – a 30-disc survey of Brazilian music, and a joint project between Naxos and the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will be the most comprehensive series of its type on disc.

‘The performances on this release are excellent – the Goias Philharmonic and Neil Thomson are well equipped to meet the demands of these challenging pieces. This is part of a Naxos series on Brazilian music; with any luck, it will lead to more recordings of Santoro’s symphonies’ wrote American Record Guide on Santoro’s Symphonies nos. 5 and 7 which can be heard on Naxos 8574402.

The symphonies of Villa-Lobos – Brazil’s most internationally admired twentieth century composer – are now collected in a box set on Naxos 8506039; Gramophone wrote ‘Isaac Karabtchevsky directs secure and consistently colourful performances and the sound is excellent’.

Violinist Emmanuele Baldini has been the concertmaster of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra since 2005, and has founded the Osesp Quartet. His Naxos recording of Villa-Lobos’s Violin Sonatas (8574310) recently received a Latin Grammy nomination and a BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Choice disc: ‘Emmanuele Baldini… produces an alluring tone that taps into the natural resonances of his instrument and phrases with a natural instinct’.

Founded in 1954, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra has been run by the Osesp Foundation since 2005. Thierry Fischer has been principal conductor and music director since 2020, succeeding Marin Alsop (2012–19). In 2016, the orchestra performed at major European festivals, and in 2019 toured China and Hong Kong. In the same year it launched Carnegie Hall’s All Together: A Global Ode to Joy project, performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with a new Portuguese translation of the Ode to Joy. In 2018, its recording of the symphonies of Villa-Lobos (Naxos 8506039), conducted by Isaac Karabtchevsky, won CONCERTO magazine’s Grand Prize and the Prêmio da Música Brasileira.