In his native Brazil, Francisco Paulo Mignone (1897-1986) achieved much success, and his reputation equals that of Heitor Villa-Lobos and Camargo Guarnieri in the forefront of composers who came to define a Brazilian identity for art music in the 20th century. Yet Mignone’s name is rarely heard outside Brazil. His compositions contain a microcosm of Brazil’s cultural history: his earliest works show his European training, while his mature output gives voice to a new genre of Brazilian art music, rich in folk tonalities within Romantic structures.

The Italian guitarist Andrea Monarda made his debut on Brilliant Classics with an album of Brazilian studies for guitar by Mignone and Radames Gnattali (96410).

In fact Mignone was initially reticent about writing for the instrument, but he produced this collection of 12 waltzes in 1970 immediately after completing the set of 12 studies. The waltzes are substantial pieces within the context of the genre.

At the same time, the harmonies often venture beyond those tonal confines, coloured by their times and by local Brazilian folk idioms.

Filling out the album, Andrea Monarda adds several works from 1953 which were Mignone’s first works for the guitar: the Modinha, Choro, Repinicando and Minuetto-Fantasia. They were dedicated to Monina Távora (Adolfina Raitzin de Távora, a former disciple of Domingo Prat and Andrés Segovia), who later became the mentor of two of the most prestigious duos in guitar history: Sérgio and Eduardo Abreu and Sérgio and Odair Assad.

Mignone’s music is belatedly achieving a measure of recognition beyond Brazil, and deservedly so: this is vivid, almost effortlessly charming music with a sharp turn of phrase.