Every piece on this album by pianist Romain Nosbaum has a reference to the Portuguese word 'Saudades'. It embodies the desire for a place (Adios a Cuba, Asturias), the soul, the human being (Alma Brasiliera) or popular manifestations. The music usually has a close connection to dance and is very much connected to the human emotional world. Romain Nosbaum is an individualist among the pianists of his generation. Without airs and graces, but with modesty and passionate devotion, he is solely focused on music. Both the grand gesture and sheer brilliancy have no meaning to him - instead, his playing stands out through intelligence, subtle individuality and technical perfection. The subtlety and immediacy of his pianistics encourage Romain's repertoire, which focuses on the romantic piano literature as well as music of contemporary composers. A universal interest in 'tradition and innovation' expresses itself not only soloistically, but also through his activities as a passionate chamber musician. Thus, he regularly performs as a vocal accompanist with artists such as his sister Véronique. He is also a member of the Random Trio, which comes with the colorful instrumentation of flute, violoncello, and piano. Moreover, Romain is very involved in interdisciplinary projects such as Claude Mangen's staging of Schubert's Winterreise, Giorgio Mancini's live choreography A nima, or the musical readings of texts by Vaslav Nijinsky and Michel Houellebecq together with actor Christian Berkel and pianist Kevin Tamanini.

Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez was a key figure in the cultural life of Rio de Janeiro. The primordial power of Batuque, the final movement of his Afro-Brazilian influenced suite Reisado do Pastoreio, gained the composer international fame. Without ever abandoning his Brazilian roots, in his later career Lorenzo Fernandez moved away from explicit nationalism towards a more universalist idiom as can be heard in the vigorously themed and atmospheric First Symphony of 1945 and the programmatic Second Symphony, inspired by the life and death of the heroic 17th-century explorer Fernao Dias Paes Leme. Symphony No. 1 is a world premiere recording.

Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez belonged to a key group of Brazilian composers including Villa-Lobos, Mignone and Guarneri, who radically transformed the landscape of Brazilian classical music and shaped future generations of composers. Lorenzo Fernandez was essentially a miniaturist, with many of his piano pieces being both richly inventive and short in duration. From the Iberian sonorities of earlier pieces such as the expansive Noturno, via the nationalist flavours of the Suites Brasileiras, to his final piano work, the technically challenging Sonata Breve, Lorenzo Fernandez's refined sophistication and originality can be heard in every piece.