Poema

Work by Dr Pedro Faria Gomes, Lecturer in Composition, features in a new Naxos recording released this month.

The CD brings together for the first time some of Portugal’s leading composers in a unique programme dedicated to their works for cello and orchestra.

It opens with Poema, a work by Portuguese composer Luiz Costa (1879-1960) which has been completed and orchestrated by Dr Faria Gomes.

Dr Faria Gomes said: “I was commissioned in 2008 by Luiz Costa’s family to complete and orchestrate Poema. This is a piece he had planned to write for cello and orchestra, soon before he died, but he only managed to sketch an unfinished manuscript for cello and piano. I completed the piece, adding several new elements, including a cadenza for the cello, and orchestrated it.”

A live recording was released on CD in 2010 and this new CD is the first studio recording of the piece. Poema is performed by Bruno Borralhinho (cello) and the Gulbenkian Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Neves.

Portuguese Music for Cello and Orchestra is available through Naxos Records.