THREE SPEECHES AND A TECHNIQUE

Photo: Foppe Schut | Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ

“Three Speeches and a Technique’ is a remarkably extrovert, dynamic and exciting piece. It is a spin-off of his opera ‘Bosch Beach’ and you can hear that in everything and is beautifully sung by Kozelj.”
Ben Taffijn | Nieuwe Noten, 17.03.25

'In his completely unique compositional style, Mendonça has all the musicians, among other things, stomp together in one rhythm while playing. (...)With this musical parody, Mendonça provides a valuable commentary on the state of current politics'
Michael Klier | Nieuwe Muse, 17.03.25

“No less protean and multiform was (…) ‘Three Speeches and a Technique’, a score for voice and ensemble by the composer in residence at Casa da Música in 2024 (…) This union of echoes of Le Grand Macabre (…) with American imprints, and instrumental glissandi with vocal portamenti, gives ‘The Choice’ a polymorphic vivacity that ‘Three Speeches’ retains throughout its development. ‘The Future’, with its progressive political discourse, is a powerful cosmopolitan outlook (…) with constant changes of style and reorganisation of materials, combining with the ensemble a solo voice whose parts are of supreme difficulty due to the continuous succession of new registers, techniques and diversified attacks (…)

Meanwhile, ‘The Recount’ introduces us to an initially delicate and nocturnal atmosphere, with a voice that takes us back to the expressionist beginnings of the 20th century, both for its lyricism and for its harmonic relationship with the ensemble (of Germanic descent). This parenthesis is broken in ‘The Power Fist’, with an opening in which the musicians stamp their feet furiously on the floor, exposing new forms of violence: initially, disjointed; later, amalgamating the discursive organisation of the ensemble around this dialectic of blows and hatred, with greater rhythmic cohesion (…) As in the third Speech, the voice in ‘The Power Fist’ presents parts of harmonisation with strings and woodwinds: a sensitive and poetic elegy that leads the score to a finale of great contrast with the more parodic first movements, so colourful and polyhedral. (…)”
Paco Yañez | Scherzo, 24.01.24

LA PETITE FILLE, LE CHASSEUR ET LE LOUP

The premiere of the French version of Mendonça’s children opera THE GIRL, THE HUNTER AND THE WOLF at Opera National de Paris was received enthusiastically by both public and critic, receiving rave reviews in the French press:

“This is the bittersweet fable told to us by composer Vasco Mendonça and librettist Gonçalo M. Tavares in The Little Girl, the Hunter and the Wolf. Given as part of the Paris Opera's young audience program, this humble and poetic work poses, at a child's level, the question of what feeds our prejudices. At the same time, it opens a door to contemporary opera, for an audience that rarely has access to it. Despite a small musical formation (electric guitar, cello, clarinets and percussion), Vasco Mendonça never infantilizes his language.”
Thierry Hillériteau | Le Figaro, 31.01.24

“The Spectra ensemble, with its varied composition of cello, clarinet, percussion and electric guitar, supports the story in a musical blend that skilfully fuses elements of modal and contemporary music. The voice, for its part, is rooted in the lyrical tradition, with a narrative phrasing that has a modern dynamic. The score offers a progression of narrative tension, with simplicity and coherence, focusing on a fluid unfolding that faithfully accompanies the actions and emotions of the characters.”
Juan Barrios | Olyrix, 03.02.21

THE GIRL, THE HUNTER AND THE WOLF

"The very serious idea behind this (libretto by Gonçalo M.Tavares), the detailed direction by Inne Goris, the excellent performance by all the soloists and the very special and interesting music by Vasco Mendonça, made this opera a special experience." 
Olga de Kort | Place de l´Opera, 31.10.22

"The strength of Mendonça and Tavares' proposal (as well as the quality of the questions it raises in the children) is such that we hope to see The Girl, the Hunter and the Wolf on our French stages again soon."
Laurent Vilarem | Opera Online, 18.10.22

"Vasco Mendonça's composition is a cascade of contemporary music, sounds and sound effects that give the performance a strong emotional charge."
Anita Twaalfhoven | Trouw, 16.10.22

"Vasco Mendonça's music is also a driving factor, played sublimely by Spectra."
Britt van Klaveren | Het Parool, 16.10.22

"The music, performed by Spectra, is quite complex but exciting, with lots of percussion, timpani beats and bass lines, and there is fine singing by Arturo den Hartog, Leonie van Rheden and Sabra el Bahri Khatri."
Margriet Prinssen | Theaterkrant, 16.10.22

"Vasco Mendonça's music creates rich environments of sound imagination (...) in a captivating vocal writing, with very accomplished numbers (...) and with many well developed rhythmic games. (...) Music with a sharp theatrical sense (...) 'The Girl, the Hunter and the Wolf' suggests at the end that there may be a dance with the world, in a vague but beautiful reply, full of poetry (...) it is indeed an opera for almost all ages, in which simplicity is not infantilizing. On the contrary, it stands out as challenging for a child who is invited to listen, to imagine and to become aware"
Pedro Boléo | Público, 05.06.23

Naxos Orchestral CD

''One of a rare breed of current composers whose personal style is instantly recognizable.''

  Philip Scott | Fanfare, May 2020

''A seductive gateway to a musical universe with a profound dramatic awareness.''

  Gonçalo Frota | Público, 13.12.19

'Takes us right to the cutting edge of modernity, yet retaining a reshaped form of tonality to create sounds that belong purely to Mendonca''

  David Denton | David´s Review Corner, November 2019

"The extraordinary lives of Vasco Mendonça´s music"

  Maria Augusta Gonçalves | Jornal de Letras, 15.01.20

STEP RIGHT UP

"A great concert of contemporary music (...).

The catch was the world premiere of STEP RIGHT UP, Vasco Mendonça´s first piano concerto. What´s the meaning of a concerto today? It certainly is a different object from its counterpart in Haydn´s time (...)

Mendonça sees the piano as a black barrier that threatens the soloist´s effort in overtaking the orchestra´s soundscape. The relation between the piano and the orchestral mass is one of power, but also of politeness. No need to be afraid. The piano is a percussion apparatus like many other machines (...).

The orchestra is a multifaceted, sound producing, caleidoscopic machine. Mendonça takes advantadge of this mechanical precision and clarity in three movements that put to the test not only the pianist (the brilliant Roger Muraro), but also the conductor´s skills (the excelent Benjamin Schwartz) in order to manage the gigantic sound factory demanded by the composer. Heralded by the percussion, string attacks and hammered notes on the piano, STEP RIGHT UP develops with great clarity, rhythmically driven and releasing cascades of contagious energy. And if, at the beginning, some of the lyrical interventions seem shy and fleeting, they´re really preparing us for the assertive presence of th epiano in the last movement. In short, one of th emost exciting premieres I have listened to in the last few years. The good newa is that STEP RIGHT UP is being recorded this week for a CD of orchestral music entirely dedicated to the composer. I will listen to it many times, as I´m sure I´ll discover many surprises I may have missed at this first hearing.(...)" Jorge Calado | Expresso, 22.06.18

"Gulbenkian´s season finale has displayed the works of three composers of the same generation, coming from different countries and with strong creative personalities . (...)

The result is a fine example of present time´s vitality in musical creation, and of the strong communicating power contemporary music can have with the audience (...)

In STEP RIGHT UP, Mendonça treats the orchestra as a global instrument (...) the portuguese composer chooses the centrality of rhythmical and percussive elements, (...) in an intrincate web of relations that requires a precise rhytmical and dynamic coordenation.

(...) Particularly in the first and last movements (since the second is more introspective, exploring darker and more delicate atmospheres) an incisive materiality of the sound is achieved, traversed by a visceral energy, echoing the piece´s title and the evocation of African rituals (...)

The percussive character of the piano dominates most of the piece, sometimes through brief musical gestures demanding a milimetric coordination with the orchestral forces. Despite this anti-romantic treatment of the piano and its relation to the orchestra, it stands as a virtuoso piece, where Roger Muraro was able to show his multifaceted qualities, in a strong performance of a work that is set to be a highlight in Vasco Mendonça´s catalogue, whose career is obtaining a growing international visibility (...)." Cristina Fernandes | Publico, 20.06.18

BOSCH BEACH

" (...) In musical terms, Bosch Beach is at the very highest level (...) Mendonça’s dark, restrained and sometimes plaintive tone (...)" Bernard Uske | Frankfurter Rundschau, 13.10.16

" (...) the exquisite score of Mendonça (...) Jorge Calado | Expresso, 15.10.16

" (...) the exciting score of Mendonça gives counteraction. Together with the musicians of the Asko|Schoenberg, he offers some thrilling percussive writing and gloomy bass lines. (...) Evelyne Coussens | Theaterkrant, 30.10.16

" (...) the main strenght of the piece resides precisely in Mendonça´s music. Besides his achievement of the timbrical diversity defined by his instrumentation of the piece, he knew how to create several layers (expressive characters) for his music: from superficiality to thickness, from dazzling brightness to pungency, the latter in changing hues of clearness.(...) The vocal lines are personalized, being clear a particular enjoyment in writing for the countertenor (...). An actractive and stimulating score. (...) Bernardo Mariano | Diario de Noticias, 24.10.16

" (...) the particular use of raw percussion and wailing didgeridoos creates a rather menacing atmosphere" Peter Pim Windhost | Omroep Brabant, 12.10.16

WHAT THE NIGHT BRINGS

"(...) Vasco Mendonça's superb final quintet." Martine Mergeay | La Libre, 09.07.15

"(...) as for Mendonça´s What The Night Brings, it´s the power and the sound explosion that stand out." Michel Egea | Destimed, 08.07.15

"(...) Vasco Mendonça´s What The Night Brings (...) made for an unsettling epilogue." James Oestreich | The New York Times, 12.07.15

"(...) a superb madrigal after a poem by Philip Larkin that finishes the show (...)" Laurent Bury | Forum Opera, 13.07.15

"(...) Mendonça's piece, What The Night Brings (incidentally, the piece that closes the show) is one of the most interesting and accomplished works of the portuguese composer. (...)" Jorge Calado | Expresso, 25.07.15