Armando José Fernandes was a celebrated composer, musician and radio broadcaster in 20th-century Portugal. He was an integral member of the ‘Grupo dos Quatro’ – alongside Jorge Croner de Vasconcelos, Fernando Lopes-Graça and Pedro do Prado – which exerted substantial influential over Portuguese music in the mid-1900s.

The tonal ambiguity of Fernandes’ Violin Sonata is established right at the start by the simultaneous use of both major and minor chords. The dance-like first movement, Allegro, gives way to a lilting Andante and gentle Larghetto, with the work eventually culminating in a Presto finale. The Violin Concerto owes much to the Gallic influence of Ravel and Debussy, with a memorable double-dotted motif opening the work. So exceptional is the music of the final rondo that this alone suffices in calling for the long-overdue revival of Fernandes’ oeuvre.

Violinist Carlos Damas made his solo debut aged just 15 with the Portuguese National Broadcasting Radio Symphony Orchestra. Among his more recent achievements is the release of an hugely successful CD featuring the works of Fritz Kreisler, which has been praised by The Strad as one of the best Kreisler discs on the market.