专辑简介

Music for wind instruments has always been a subject of considerable attention from French composers. Thus the French repertoire for clarinet quartet is assumed as a fundamental corpus in the musical literature for this instrument with, we should highlight, a broad production during the 20th century, both original compositions and arrangements of compositions for other instruments. Under this context, this album exists as a real tribute to this repertoire.

The musical interpretation is in charge of four skilled Portuguese clarinetists who, in this second album, present a repertoire that includes a wide variety of musical approaches, with arrangements by Frank Amet (internationally renowned French clarinettist) of chanson française from the 16th century, through arrangements of original works of the great French composers of the late 19th century and early 20th century (Debussy, Ravel or Satie), to the music of the second half of the last century, expressly written for clarinet quartet, as are the works of Jacques Bondon (Movimenti pour 4 clarinettes) Roger Boutry (Dedicace) and Jean Françaix (Petit Quatour). The choice and nature of this repertoire is even more relevant if we consider that this year, 2012, is 75 years since the death of Maurice Ravel and, on other side, 150 years since the birth of Claude Debussy.

This is a unique phonographic record, which has a strong Portuguese stamp, with the collaboration of personalities who have been making important contributions to Portuguese music and culture. Here we highlight such valuable contributions as the performance of the soprano Eduarda Melo in Belle que tiens ma vie (Pavane from the 16th century) of T. Arbeau (arr. Amet), the arrangement by Vitor Faria of La fille aux cheveux de lin (prelude for piano by C. Debussy), the texts and narration by Mário Alves and António Durães, respectively, and also Ma mère l'oye by M. Ravel (arr. B. Holcombe Jr.).

With this album we experiment an interpretive approach that goes beyond the purely musical universe to reconcile with other artistic elements, resulting in a bold and eclectic product, full of quality and originality: a contribution of great value to the universe of discography in Portugal.