Refreshing repertoire Portuguese wind music played by the Galliard Ensemble - appreciated by PATRIC STANDFORD '... brilliantly played.'

Any recording by the Galliard Ensemble is worth acquiring because the precision of their playing, colourful sound, and sheer exuberance with which their extraordinarily varied repertoire is instilled, are a constant delight -- and not only to specialists in the wind quintet repertoire.

This collection of Portuguese pieces includes quintets by two past major musical figures in Portugal: Joly Braga Santos (1924-1988), whose little Scherzino demonstrates within three minutes his succinct personality, and Fernando Lopes-Graça (1906-1994), the most significant twentieth-century Portuguese composer. His Sete Lembranças para Vieira da Silva, an artist who was his contemporary and a leading advocate of cubism in the country, contain much of the delicacy and skill of his technical authority, and are thoroughly enjoyable [listen -- track 13: 0:47-1:39].

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