“Kind of classic” is the title of this CD, which brings the world première recording of the composer Nuno Côrte-Real’s (b.1971) concert for tuba op.65, and two concertante pieces, Luar Galego op. 23, for cello and strings, and Elegia op.33 B, for piano and orchestra. It’s quite challenging to say what is classic and what isn’t. The same must be said about a concerto. The origin of the term has always raised debate, from the Latin verb concertatum, “to fight” / “to compete”, or from consertum, “to intertwine” / “tie up”? A clash between two instrumental entities, distinct in both number and sound or the highlighting nature of a dialogue? Concertante music can be all of this, a kind of classic and a kind of concerto, not merely a game of words but the composer’s heartfelt tribute to the legendary album Kind of Blue (1959) by Miles Davis (1926–1991).

Côrte-Real is one of the most highly regarded present-day Portuguese classic composers. Kaleidoscopic in the multitude of references summoned, as well as synesthetic demeanour, painting sections of the manuscript scores in a variety of colours, Côrte-Real is known for his rhythmic-melodic-harmonic patterns, which occasionally can remind you of the brightness of John Adams’s minimalist music, without relinquishing the primacy of melody (or, at least, melodic patterns) as the guiding force of the musical narrative. As a distinctive trait of the composer’s personality, Côrte-Real is unapologetically ironic and dramatic, scrutinizing the uncertainties of the modern world and the absence thrown up by the abrupt cut that death brings.