António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Six Portraits Of Pain - Oscuro (2025)

The new album by Portuguese composer António Pinho Vargas brings together two landmark works, performed live by Casa da Música’s resident ensembles. Six Portraits of Painwas one of the highlights of the venue’s inaugural programme in 2005, featuring the virtuoso cellist Anssi Karttunen as soloist alongside the Remix Ensemble, conducted by Frank Ollu. A deeply moving work, it draws inspiration from texts by Deleuze/Spinoza, Thomas Bernhard, Anna Akhmatova, Manuel Gusmão, and Paul Celan, each evoking different forms of existential suffering. Oscuro, on the other hand, stands as a testimony to more recent times, an era marked by tragedy and disfigurement, from the pandemic to the wars afflicting the world. It is performed by the Casa da Música Porto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Neves. These historic recordings, captured live at the premiere performances, are now released in a carefully produced edition by Artway, reaffirming Pinho Vargas as a vital voice in contemporary European music.

According to António Pinho Vargas, ‘The work's six portraits of pain (Six Portraits of Pain), with their form and foundations made up of six sentences of texts (short excerpts from scattered writings of various origins, letters, poems, etc.) written on the score, with the musicians being invited to read from the authors who gave each of them their titles; Oscuro, whose founding metaphors resulted from the catastrophic events that killed millions of people.) written on the score, which the musicians are invited to read, by the authors who give the titles to each of them; Oscuro, whose founding metaphors resulted from the catastrophic events that killed millions in the preceding years, the pandemic followed by wars, still ongoing at the time of writing, with their procession of misfortunes. The first sentence of the programme note, which I repeat here, is rooted in this global context: ‘Each work is always a response to the determinations of a body and the determinations of a world.’ However, the 17 years that separated the two premieres may partially explain the differences that I'll only try to point out. They were 17 years that gave time to all the creative crises that affect composers while, at the same time, forcing them to find the most diverse ways of moving forward in the making of works. The thematic entities of one and the other are very different and are treated very differently.’

“This piece of music is of unparalleled distinction, hence, it must not be compared with anything else in the realm of classical, romantic or even contemporary music. It is in a class of its own. It is a sublime expression through the sound of cello, violin and percussion. It is ethereal!”

Remix Ensemble Casa da Música:
Anssi Karttunen, violoncelo cello
Frank Ollu, conductor (Six Portraits Of Pain)
Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música
Pedro Neves, maestro conductor (Oscuro)

TRACKLIST

1. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Six Portraits Of Pain: I. Deleuze/Espinosa
2. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Six Portraits Of Pain: II. Thomas Bernhard
3. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Six Portraits Of Pain: III. Manuel Gusmão
4. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Six Portraits Of Pain: IV. Akhmátova
5. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Six Portraits Of Pain: V. Cadenza sopra Spinosa
6. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Six Portraits Of Pain: VI. Manuel Gusmão II / Paul Celan
7. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Oscuro: I. Atlas
8. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Oscuro: II. Abgrund
9. António Pinho Vargas, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música & Franck Ollu - Vargas: Oscuro: III. Abgrund Corale (1855)