Brazilian composer Osvaldo Lacerda (b. 1927) began piano studies at age nine in his home town of Sao Paolo. While his mother supported his musical endeavors, his father discouraged them – wishing he would instead become a lawyer. He was a fairly successful pianist, but became very interested and successful as a composer. From 1952 to 1962, he studied composition with Camargo Guarnieri, under whose tutelage his compositional character developed and to whom he owed the beginning of his career. His aesthetic credo is that of a refined nationalism, resulting from his extensive knowledge of the characteristics of Brazilian music combined with solid training in modern techniques of composition.

In 1963, he spent a year in the United States as a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, the first Brazilian composer to be awarded such a distinguished fellowship. He then took classes of composition with Vittorio Giannini in New York City and Aaron Copland in Tanglewood. He returned to Brazil and founded several musical societies and taught at multiple music schools.

The Quinteto de Sopra by Lacerda has a special relationship to popular music. Lacerda took melodies which frequently occur in popular music and combined them with modern techniques of classical composition, resulting in this charming composition. The first and third movements recall melodies of the “serestas” and “modinhas”, while folk melodies of northeast Brazil can be heard in the first, second and fourth movements.

Arturo Marquez (b. 1950) is one of Mexico’s most recognized composers. Known for his successful instrumental danzones with their captivating melodies, this quintet also features sensuous, winding melodies which shift through different tonalities smoothly and suggestively. It is here that the composer’s explorations of Latin American music’s popular sources is evident. Throughout this quintet fragments of popular tunes can be heard, masked by Marquez’s skillful handling of voicing, texture and orchestration. Contrasted against an emphatic and accented pulse, the rhythm and melody combine to drive the piece toward its inevitable conclusion.

Danza de Mediodía can be translated as “Noon Dance”, though the composer is not referring to a specific time of day but rather the present moment in Marquez’s career (as perceived by the composer himself). The piece was premiered by the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet in 1996, who coincidentally premiered it at noon. Marquez requested that the musicians stand during this performance – the better to dance!