Catalogue Connection: 25201

The Divine Art label has been bringing out some splendid releases of late: among them, the Fitzwilliam String Quartet’s Schubert disc on original instruments stands out. Here is the American pianist Justin Badgerow, a fine musician who received his Doctorate from the University of Colorado at Boulder and splits his time between solo performance and teaching. This is, amazingly, his debut recording. He is also a musicologist: his edition of Britten’s Young Apollo, offering a re­duction of the orchestra for a second piano, has been authorized by Faber Music Limited.

The single line that initiates Francisco Mignone’s Preludios (1932, a transcription by the com­poser of an earlier orchestral work) speaks volumes; when warmth strolls in (only to be rudely in­terrupted) in the following allegro, it is as if Mignone is attempting to fill 58 seconds with maximal incident. Perhaps the most effective of the six is the final “Caiqaras.” Marked solenne, this is indeed a solemn processional. That shows Badgerow’s command of the large scale; he times it just right, his rhythm unshakeable.

The move to Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras takes us to more familiar territory. This, his Fourth, is the only one for piano solo (composed 1930-36). One can hear Bach’s organ works in the background of the “Preludio”; and again, that solid rhythmic sense holds Badgerow’s interpretation in good stead. His projection of line and weighting of chords are both deeply considered, beautifully captured in Michael Lippard’s recording. Interestingly, the “Coral (Canto do Sertão)” itself comes across as a baritone aria, the line beautifully sculpted above a firm bass and beyond a bell-like treble. That bell is initially transferred to the bass for the movement actually entitled “Aria (Cantiga)” be­fore the open-air, chattering finale, “Dança” combines Debussyan harmonic sophistication with South American sultriness. It is Badgerow’s mastery of the pedal that shines here, enabling every strand to register. Moving to the two pieces from Ciclo Brasileiro (1936), we are offered an oasis of calm in “Plantio do Cabocio” (and indeed there does seem to be a watery element here), a chordal melody in the left-hand impeccably decorated by right-hand filigree. Villa-Lobos’s quinpartite ex­ploration of the waltz in “Impressoes Seresteiras” is a sort of sultry version of Ravel’s La valse, but no less interesting. Badgerow’s technique is superb, most evidently in the accuracy and variety of the right-hand swirling figures.

One does not need a playlist to know when we move off-piste, from Villa-Lobos to the blissfully wonky sonorities of Darius Milhaud and his Saudades do Brasil, op. 67 (1920-21). There are 12 movements, each named after a different district of Rio de Janeiro. We hear four of them, in the order 4, 1,9, then 5. Badgerow captures the deliciously bittersweet wit of “Sorocaba” as easily as he does the soft sway of the hips in “Sumare” and the drive of “Ipanema” (he brings off the enigmatic end of this last piece brilliantly, too).

There follows a swathe of some eight stand-alone pieces; Mignone’s gracious, slightly harmon­ically spicy Valse Elegante offers a nostalgic reminder of times past (how beautiful again is Badgerow’s way with projecting melodic lines from within a texture!) in salon music par excellence.

The syncopations of Paulo Gondim’s Gingado do Bibi veer temptingly towards the sphere of jazz (wherein I suspect Badgerow might similarly excel) before Sonhando (1955), a piece where again one does not need a translation to know from the music itself that this means “dreaming” in Portuguese. The pieces Gingado do Bibi, Sapeca and Fim de tarde em Amargosa were all composed much later, between 2008 and 2010. The infectious Sapeca (a Portuguese word for “mischievous”) leads to the more reflective, crepuscular Fin de tarde em Amargosa and the more resolute Teimosia (the title does, after all, mean “stubbornness”) with its almost pecking staccatos. The warm embrace of Mozart Camargo Guamieri’s Danza Brasileira of 1928 offers (foot-tapping) respite before we re­turn to where we started, with music by Mignone: the Congada, with its samba rhythms, rounds the disc off nicely. The whole provides a bright, colorful voyage into music inspired by the sights, sounds, and dances of Brazil. Most enjoyable.

Badgerow offers a nice compilation of works from Brazil, with four Brazilian composers and one French (Milhaud, who was heavily influenced by Brazilian rhythms). While Badgerow’s debut recording does a decent job of introducing listeners to Brazilian classical piano repertoire through his excellent pro­gramming, the playing could be more vibrant.

In Villa-Lobos’s Ciclo Brasileiro, there could be more projection, as some parts seem a little muted. The execution could be tighter: Milhaud’s Saudades do Brazil has some choppy technical passages. Mignone’s ’Congada’ seems too reserved, and Gondim’s ’Gingado de Bibi’ seems hesitant—needs more flow. Guarnieri’s ’Dansa Brasiliera’ is charming and sparkling, but feels overped­aled. I enjoy the introduction to composers I would not have known otherwise, such as Paolo Gondim and Mignone; but the sound and execution are not great.

No two ways around it: Justin Badgerow’s Reminiscences of Brazil is a thoroughly appealing release. A survey of mostly 20th-century solo piano music from Brazil, the selections want nothing for stylistic diversity, melodic invention, and rhythmic verve. About half of the disc’s playtime is devoted to music by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Darius Milhaud.

Badgerow’s performances of four of the latter’s Saudades do Brasil – “Copacabana,” “Sorocaba,” “Sumare,” and “Ipanema” – run the gamut from dreamy to raucous. In Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileira no. 4, Badgerow ably draws out the opening movement’s mighty climaxes but never at the expense of the musical line. The second, with its imitations of chiming bells, is beautifully structured. The pianist’s sense of pacing and balance of voicings is most impressive in the third movement Aria, while the final “Dança” is vigorously done.

Likewise striking is Badgerow’s take on two movements from Villa-Lobos’s evocative Ciclo Brasileiro.

The remainder of the program is devoted to music by Francisco Mignone, Paulo Gondim, and Mozart Camargo Guarnieri.

Mignone’s 1932 Seis Preludios are a welcome discovery, mixing as they do atmospheric gestures (in no. 1), taut rhythms (no. 2), stately lyricism (no. 4), and a condensed rhapsodic structure (no. 5). Similarly fetching are Mignone’s graceful Valse Élégante and pulsing Congada.

While the Villa-Lobos and Mignone pieces sometimes straddle the line between the worlds of high art and popular Brazilian musics a bit starkly, the Gondim works don’t. Gingado is spirited and ebullient. In the lush, lyrical Sonhando, the opening figure seems to channel Lerner and Loewe’s “Almost Like Being in Love.” Sapeca is a playful romp; Fim de tarde em Amargosa a flowing nocturne; and Teimosia proves spunky but elegant. So, in Badgerow’s hands, does Guarnieri’s lively Dansa Brasileira.

On the whole, then, these are stylish, sympathetic performances of ingratiating and engaging repertoire. Badgerow clearly has the measure of the music and a strong understanding of how to convey its subtleties: you’re in excellent hands here.

My only reservations about the disc owe to a combination of its engineering and the instrument Badgerow’s playing on. To put it simply, the piano sounds a bit distant and lacks a degree of tonal variety that would be particularly welcome between, say, the Villa-Lobos and Gondim selections. Of course, that may just be a personal bias and it shouldn’t put you off investigating what is a finely curated and played survey of some wonderful music.

This is an entertaining and varied programme of piano music. The Brazilian side gives the music life and a vivacity that’s a little unexpected but don’t expect it to sound very Latin American. It’s as much in the feel and passion as the rhythm. It’s robust, and powerfully played; there’s nothing of the polite salon about this, although neither is it wild. It sounds very modern, in the sense of freshness and energy.

The sleeve notes describe all the composers and the programme is based on the music of the streets and the fields. Heitor Villa-Lobos contributes two pieces and he took an interest in popular music played by street musicians in Rio de Janeiro, as well as indigenous music he encountered during trips through the country. Work by Francisco Paulo Mignone opens the recording in dramatic fashion, elsewhere a waltz nodding towards the European salon, although it’s still got an air of the exotic or even danger about it, while another of his pieces closes with more passionate Afro-Brazilian samba. Other composers include Darius Milhaud, who worked for the French foreign ministry in Brazil during World War I; he named movements after different districts of Rio. This is the debut Divine Art album from American pianist Badgerow and we’d like to hear more from him, and his powerful, confident playing.