Katja Zakotnik is Slovenian and Naila Alvarenga Lahmann of Brazilian origin, which explains the programme that focuses largely on repertoire for cello and piano from these two countries. There are some fine discoveries to be made here, such as the Summer Sonata, Op. 8 by Blaž Pucihar (born in 1977), which is Romantic in style, with some beautifully folkloric overtones, and the Suíte Brasileira by André Mehmari (also born in 1977), in which Brazil, sometimes festive, sometimes nostalgic, comes to the fore through rich harmonies. There are also three short pieces by a Brazilian composer from the turn of the 20th century, Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935), whose Creole style could be compared to that of Louis Moreau Gottschalk in the United States. Lovely. Slovenia’s Urška Orešic (b. 1981) presents five modernist and elaborate Little Diamonds (featuring the album’s most chromatic harmonies), cut with precision. The programme is enhanced by a few pieces by Brazil’s greatest musician, Villa-Lobos (the romantic Prelúdio, Op. 20, No. 2, the impressionistic O Canto do Cisne Negro (The Black Swan Song) and the essential Aria from Bachianas brasileiras No. 5) and completed by Brahms’s substantial Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38. Nice reading of Zakotnik and Lahmann, with melodic muscle and clear harmonic architecture. A varied programme of new discoveries and established favourites, in interpretations of high quality.
