"In the darkness that surround us, Vasco Martins believes that music can act as light, enabling the creator to illuminate others. In his symphonies particularly, he tries to convey 'fulfillment, tranquility and hope'.
Born in Portugal in 1956 to a Cape Verdean father and Portuguese mother, Vasco Martins is an unusual composer in the musical world of the early 21st century. He has lived in Cape Verde for forty/one years of his life, only leaving for two periods of foreign study, first in Portugal with Lopes-Graça, then in Paris, where he was awarded a scholarship at the Centre International d'Etudes Musicales (International Centre of Musical Studies) based in Nosy-le-Sec at the time. He has remained in Cape Verde ever since, living a secluded life in his island, far from any centre of musical production (...) Study of his island music and predilection for Eastern philosophies soon led him to position his creative world in line with the work of Villa-Lobos and Sibelius, rather like Hohvaness in the United States. (...) Today, Vasco Martins's musical work forms a respectable corpus and displays a fine stylistic variety. It is a reflection on musical time, the expression of poetical world inspired as much by nature as by the phenomena that govern the universe, and by the spiritual and philosophical thought, especially from the Far East."
Henri-Claude Fantapié in the booklet
Vasco Martins (b.1956):
Symphony No.3 "Arquipélago magnético" (Magnetic archipelago)
Symphony No.4 "Buda Dharma"
Symphony No.6 "Monte verde" (Green mountain)
Symphony No.8 "A procura da luz" (The search for light)
North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Olivieri-Munroe - conductor
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