Buriedtreasure

Cellist Antonio Meneses introduces us to a selection of his favourite recordings

Guarnieri Cello Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano

Antonio Meneses (cello), Celina Szrvinsk (piano) Avie AV2162

Camargo Guarnieri was the most important composer to come from Brazil after Villas-lobos. He wrote three cello sonatas, and I played and recorded the first one back in 2008/09. It’s a wonderful piece, written in 1931, not very long and very polyphonic with wonderful melodies. The last movement is wild from beginning to end – it’s actually called Dança selvagem, which means ‘wild dance’.

Villa-lobos Fantasia

János Starker (cello); Paraiba Symphony Orchestra/eleazar de Carvalho Delos DE1017

Villa-lobos wrote this Fantasy around 1945 and it’s very beautiful. The cello sings, especially in the first and last movements; it’s as if it were really composed for a singer. As always in Villa-lobos there are Brazilian rhythms, and he even stole a little bit from Argentina – in the last movement there is a kind of Tango. It was written for Serge Koussevitsky, actually, and I played it for the first time when I was 17 or 18.

Villa-lobos Piano Trios

Monique Duphil (piano), Jay Humeston (cello), Antonio Spiller (violin) Marco Polo 8223182 Villa-lobos’s piano trios are works that are rarely played. They belong to the first period of his life, before he went to Europe, but at a time when he was still discovering his own language and borrowing from Debussy and Fauré. They are conceived with a huge piano part – you could almost say they are like piano concertos. You find everything in this music; it’s beautiful, especially the slow movements, which are very touching.

Antonio Meneses’s recording of Brahms Cello Sonatas & Songs is out now on Avie