Having been away from home for three days I picked up a box with six new cds today (the largest number I have bought at the same time for many a long year!).
Yes, the Braga Santos lyrical pieces are all most attractive but oddly enough it was not the two Symphonic Overtures but the works written in the 1950s which I found most impressive: the sombre and grand Prelude to "Viver ou Morrer" and the four orchestral miniatures which pack enormously enjoyable depth into such a short time-scale.
The percussive Piano Concerto comes as quite a shock after these earlier works. That is obviously the way Braga Santos wished to go in the second half of his career and one can understand why: a composer responding to modern trends in music. I know which side of his work I prefer but ...........
'Viver ou Morrer' and Symphonic Prelude (1955) are my favourites on an enjoyable disc. At one brief moment in the third movement of the Piano Concerto it sounded like the old, tuneful, Braga Santas was trying to break through!