Oswald: Works for Piano Sergio Monteiro

• Henrique Oswald (1852-1931): Pagine d'album, Op. 3:
• 1No. 1. Preludio01:09
• 2No. 2. Sognando03:23
• 3No. 3. Impromptu01:26
• 4No. 4. In hamac04:47
• 5No. 5. Romanza02:18
• 6No. 6. Scherzo03:19
• Impromptu, Op. 19:
• 7Impromptu, Op. 1902:32
• Album, Op. 32:
• 8No. 1. Romance02:51
• 9No. 2. Valse02:13
• 10No. 3. Sérénade01:26
• 11No. 4. Menuet02:56
• Album, Op. 33:
• 12No. 1. Sur la plage02:26
• 13No. 2. Idylle02:03
• 14No. 3. Pierrot01:27
• Album, Op. 36:
• 15No. 1. Bébé s'endort02:19
• 16No. 2. Pierrot se meurt01:17
• 17No. 3. Chauve-souris01:23
• Valsa Lenta, Op. posth.:
• 18Valsa Lenta, Op. posth.01:44
• En nacelle:
• 19En nacelle02:46
• 3 Études:
• 20No. 1 in D-Flat Major03:55
• 21No. 2 in C Minor02:24
• 22No. 3. in E Major02:44
• Estudo para a mão esquerda:
• 23Estudo para a mão esquerda06:20
• Estudo (posthumous edition):
• 24Estudo (Posthumous Edition)02:26
• Total Runtime01:01:34

Info for Oswald: Works for Piano

Henrique Oswald, whose music was lauded by Saint-Saëns and Fauré, was one of the most important composers in South America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The spectacular winner of a major Composition Competition promoted in 1902 by Le Figaro in Paris, he became a significant figure in Brazilian musical life as director and later as professor at the National Institute of Music in Rio de Janeiro.

His European-influenced music was suppressed by Brazilian nationalist sentiment in the 1930s and 40s, but on his death Villa-Lobos described Oswald as “the most admirable composer of this country”.

This programme provides an excellent overview of his stylistic development, from the youthful salon music aesthetic of Pagine d’album to the French impressionism of the Album Op. 36 and the masterful Trois Études.

Sergio Monteiro, piano

Sergio Monteiro
Born in 1974 in Niterói, Sergio Monteiro began studying the piano at the age of 4 and went on to work under the guidance of Myrian Dauelsberg at the National Music School of Rio de Janeiro, where he completed the Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. During this period, he won thirty 1st. prizes in important Brazilian and other South American competitions. In 2000, he was awarded a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture to study at the Eastman School of Music in the U.S., where he worked on his Doctor of Musical Arts under Nelita True. During these years, he won many important prizes at the institution, including the Performance Certificate and the Concerto Competition.

In 2001, Sergio Monteiro was chosen to participate in the Second Martha Argerich International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires. Postponed because of the tragedy of September 11th, the competition was reorganized two years later and brought a true victory for the young Brazilian: with his fiery reading of Bartók's Third Piano Concerto Monteiro enchanted the public, impressed the jury (including Gyorgy Sandor and Martha Argerich) and fascinated the critics. A few days later, invited to play at the opening of the Martha Argerich Festival with the Buenos Ayres Philharmonic conducted by Charles Dutoit, he received a 20 minute standing ovation at the Colón Theater. After the Argerich Competition, Sergio Monteiro was selected to take part in the prestigious International Piano Academy, at Como, Italy, where he worked for 2 years with some of the most important pianists and teachers, such as Leon Fleisher, Bashkirov, Andreas Staier, Fou T'song, Claude Frank and Willian Grant Nabore.

Monteiro has appeared with all the most important Brazilian orchestras and with some prestigious orchestras from Europe and America, under the direction of Charles Dutoit, Pedro Ignacio Calderon, Mendi Rodan, Neil Varon, Tsung Yeh, Eduard Schmieder, Misha Raschlevsky, Ira Levin, Anton Nanut, Grahan Jackson, Gabor Hollerung, among others. Among brazilian conductors, he has played under the direction of Ligia Amadio, Roberto Tibiriçá, Carlos Moreno, Roberto Duarte, Flávio Florence, Diogo Pacheco, Northon Morozowicks, etc.

Among his more recent artistic engagements, he gave the Brazilian first performance of John Corigliano's Piano Concerto; gave the premiere of Almeida Prado's Gravuras Sonoras a D. João VI - for piano and orchestra; played at the Kremlin in Moscow with the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra; and gave recitals at the Palestrina Hall, in Roma, at the Konzerthaus and at the Philarmonie, in Berlin, at the Mozarteum Argentino, in Buenos Ayres and at the Sibelius Academy, in Helsinki. In addition to performing many recitals in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Brazil and performances with the Turmalin Trio in Holland and Germany, he has been invited to give lectures and master classes at schools in South America (Brazil, Chile) and Europe (Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Finland).

An energetic champion of Brazilian music, Sergio Monteiro has been honored by many composers with invitations to give premieres of original compositions dedicated to him. He launched in 2008 a new CD featuring Villa-Lobos' complete cycle of Prole do Bebê.

After five years living in Europe, Sergio Monteiro will move to the USA. He has been recently appointed head of the piano program at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University, an All-Steinway School.

This album contains no booklet.