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Felipe Senna & Câmaranóva: Câmara Brasileira

Câmaranóva is a chamber orchestra dedicated to performing music of living Brazilian composers, with a focus on instrumental music "in its most diverse aspects" (including jazz, folkloric, and popular idioms). Felipe Senna, himself a composer and improviser, is the ensemble's musical director, arranger, and pianist. There are other composer-improvisers in the group, most notably flutist Lea Freire.

The ensemble's mission is to present Brazilian instrumental music to a wide audience, in venues that would ordinarily be devoted mainly to European composers and/or works from earlier periods. Câmara Brasileira, their debut recording, offers music of Amilton Godoy, Arismar do Espirito Santo, Filo Machado, Silvia Goes, Edu Ribeiro, Douglas Braga, Senna, and Freire, an intergenerational group of celebrated composers and performers.

The release is accompanied by videos of selections from the album in performance (check the YouTube below). Appended to these are the composers' reactions to hearing and seeing the recording of their piece for the first time. Not surprisingly, they are blown away, moved to tears, expletives, and/or laughter. The virtuosity is dazzling, but what really makes the work extraordinary is its musicality and the synergetic nature of the project.

Godoy's "Choro" is a case in point. The piece is a meditation on a typical early-to-mid twentieth-century choro. He captures the long lines and playful counterpoint, but in a fluid form and a style infused with a Brazilian jazz aesthetic. Godoy is a revered jazz pianist and founding member of the Zimbo Trio, which rose to prominence in 1965 when they became the house band for O Fino da Bossa, the Brazilian TV show that propelled Elis Regina to fame. He imbues his piece with his unique sensibility, and the orchestra gets it. His intention is for even the composed sections to feel improvised, and the performers have the skills to make it happen. The performance swings in a very contemporary and Brazilian way.

At sixteen pieces, the size of the ensemble is comparable to a jazz big band, but the instrumentation is distinct. In a woodwind section that includes alto clarinet and bassoon, for example, there is one lone saxophonist. A string quartet is embedded, along with a brass section comprised of trumpet, French horn, and euphonium. The rhythm section is piano and drums. Cello and euphonium fill in for the expected double bass, a surprisingly satisfying substitution. Senna's orchestrations and arrangements use this colorful palette in singularly expressive ways. The train sounds in Freire's evocative "Turbulenta," for example, are easily recognizable as such, but in a way that differs from, say, Duke Ellington's "Daybreak Express." The differences are what make it exciting.

Câmaranóva strives to create a space for itself as a first-rate national orchestra dedicated to bringing the work of contemporary Brazilian composers to the world. The excellence and beauty of Câmara Brasileira represents a great stride in that direction. Fans of Brazilian instrumental music and jazz are sure to want it in their collection.