The music of Radames Gnattali stands very distinguished on the Brazilian classical music landscape given the composer's unique background: a hybrid of classical virtuoso pianist,...

The music of Radames Gnattali stands very distinguished on the Brazilian classical music landscape given the composer's unique background: a hybrid of classical virtuoso pianist, composer of symphonies, concertos and sophisticated chamber music and popular composer who immensely contributed to different musical styles in the Brazilian music scene such as the samba, choro, bossa nova and Brazilian jazz. Gnattali started his career as a classical pianist and was considered one of the greatest virtuosos of his generation. He spent a great part of his life as the composer, arranger, and conductor of the National Radio orchestra in Rio de Janeiro. It was in 2005, thanks to Roberto Gnattali, that I had my first immersion in Gnattali's universe. Roberto Gnattali, composer and teacher at the University of Rio de Janeiro, is the nephew of Radames Gnattali. Nowadays considered the curator of Radames Gnattali's music, Roberto is an expert of all his uncle's recordings and compositions. Gnattali's widow surprised me with an unexpected present when she allowed me to take the digital copies of all music Gnattali has written for piano, that included solo, chamber, and concertos. The present album is a fortunate consequence of that! -Luis Rabello