The Portuguese composer, Braga Santos was a highly accomplished symphonist and composer for the orchestra. His musical language is based on a strong sense of architecture as well as drama, with generous melodic lines and a natural instinct for structural development as well as formal coherence. The four works on this new Marco Polo disc reflect his musical evolution. The Concerto in D’s harmonic idiom and contrapuntal writing are extremely traditional and reflect the composer’s initial interest in composing in modal keys. The Sinfonietta is formally condensed and uses a small orchestra. The Variations Concertantes represent a change from the past: they possess considerable harmonic and contrapuntal density, and are divided into a series of short sections. The Double Concerto for violin and cello, accompanied by strings and harp, follows the traditional concerto form. Throughout all these works Braga Santos’s musical mastery is fully evident.