Treasures from the New World, Vol. 2 A Levy: Tango Brasileiro; Mignone: Romanze; Miguez: Violin Sonata; Nobre: Poema No. 1; H Oswald: Violin Sonata Anthony Flint (clarinet), Clélia Iruzun (piano) SOMM Recordings SOMMCD 0632 68:38 mins
Released last year, the first volume in this excellent ongoing series of chamber music from the Americas featured works for piano and string quartet. Brazilian pianist Clélia Iruzun, now partnered with violinist Anthony Flint, returns with a delightful programme of Brazilian works that is every bit as vibrant as the previous volume.
Leopoldo Américo Miguez was renowned for his sophisticated, contrapuntal music (and for composing the national anthem of Brazil): his Violin Sonata in A major (1885) receives a warm and heart-felt reading from the duo. Henrique Oswald’s Violin Sonata in E major (1908) is similarly Romantic in spirit, with strong echoes of Brahms in its complex textures and sweeping lyricism. The duo comes especially alive in the shorter works, notably Alexandre Levy’s Tango Brasileiro. Composed in 1890 for solo piano, the piece is heard in a sparky arrangement for violin and piano and finds Flint on playfully virtuosic form.
The duo has a deft sense of ensemble and Iruzun is a secure and expressive presence throughout. Flint produces a beautifully sweet tone, but a little more earth in the sound would be welcome in places.
Kate Wakeling