Claudio Santoro (1919-1989)
Complete Piano Sonatas
Sonata 1942
Sonata No.1 (1945)
Sonata No.2 (1948)
Sonata No.3 (1955)
Sonata No.4 Fantasia (1957)
Sonata No.5 (1988)
Alessandro Santoro (piano)
rec. 2021/22, Estúdio Monteverdi, São Paulo, Brazil
Naxos 8.574486 [68]

The Brazilian composer Claudio Santoro has an impressive list of works to his credit. The symphonies, the backbone of his output, come from his whole composing life. He completed the First Symphony in 1940; the Fourteenth was left unfinished at the time of his death. This is but the tip of the iceberg: his oeuvre includes seven string quartets, six piano sonatas, sonatas for various instruments, and operas.

The six piano sonatas signpost Santoro’s musical progress. The early sonatas, the unnumbered Sonata 1942 and the First, are telling examples of his modernist style influenced by serial and twelve-note techniques. Themes are quite angular, and the expression is generally tense and troubled, but there are short moments of respite. The two works have a roughly similar layout – slow outer movements enclose a central fast movement. The main difference is that the third movement of the First Sonata opens with a slow introduction which leads into a faster Finale.

On the whole, the Sonata No.1 is more complex of the two. The composer’s son is not only the performer here but the author of succinct and straight-to-the-point notes. He writes: “The discourse of its opening movement is constructed not only from the original series but also from both the retrograde and the inverted version. There is a dialogue throughout the movement between lyrical, moderate writing and music more irascible, impatient and unconventional in nature.” This may sound as if the music is intractably complicated but it is not. The composer’s assurance and mastery, and sheer energy, are such that they obliterate the structural and architectural complexity.

When Santoro composed his Sonata No.2 (dedicated to pianist Anna Stella Schic), his modernist phase was behind him, partly due to his “growing political and social awareness”. His left-wing sympathies were to cause him some problems. He had been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship but the American authorities denied him a visa to study in the US. Upon Charles Munch’s recommendation, he received a grant from the French government. It enabled him to study composition with Nadia Boulanger and conducting with Eugène Bigot. At that time, he wrote to Carl Lange that he was still using the twelve-note technique as a complement to an overall work. “But I can’t be tied down”, he wrote – his approach became considerably freer.

Alessandro Santoro finds hints of Neo-Classicism in this work. To me, they are not too evident. Even so, what comes clearly through is a new-found stylistic freedom and subtlety tinged with Brazilian accents. The second movement reflects the toada, a form of Brazilian song. The music, perhaps quite demanding from a purely technical point of view, is hugely accessible and enjoyable.

The Sonata No.3, again in three movements, is somewhat longer than its predecessors. The first movement confronts a dynamic, restless first subject with a cantabile second subject. A massive, cumulative crescendo brings the movement to a dramatic close. There follows the more lyrical second movement that also builds upon accumulation until a beautiful song emerges. The Sonata ends with a sort of procession growing in intensity till it is briefly interrupted by a moment of respite. Afterwards, the festal music is restated before slowly fading into the distance.

The Sonata No.4 “Fantasia” is his longest, but even it barely exceeds the 15-minute mark. The first movement alternates tense episodes and more relaxed, lyrical ones. The second, nocturnal movement is warmly lyrical. The third movement is in complete contrast. Its animated, strongly rhythmical toccata provides a brilliant and ebullient conclusion. It is easy to understand why this piece has become Santoro’s best-known piano sonata.

Thirty years elapsed between the Fourth and Fifth Piano Sonata. The notes say: “After exploring serial and aleatoric music in the 1960s and electronic music in the 1970s, Santoro returned to a more traditional approach to composition in the 1980s, seeking to synthesise the experience he had built up over many years.” The Sonata No.5 is anther relatively short, compact piece in three brief movements. The first movement opens slowly and soon becomes more nervous. The second movement is an Andante, short, song-like but still rather tense. The lst movement, Livre angustiado [Freely distressed], says much about the composer’s state of mind at that time. He died a few months later of a massive heart attack while rehearsing with the Orquestra do Teatro Nacional in Brasilia on 27 March 1989.

This most welcome release may be experienced as a by-way of Santoro’s exceptionally fecund composing life. It can also be an ear-opening summing-up of his musical progress over nearly fifty years. In one way or another, the release is self-recommending for anyone who has come to know and appreciate Claudio Santoro’s symphonic output. Alessandro Santoro has a deeply anchored understanding of his father’s music. He plays with commitment and superb technique. His succinct, apt notes tell all you need to know about these piano sonatas.

Hubert Culot

Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free