About
"As if he were a son" is a piece written for the Sond'Ar-te Trio, in response to the challenge launched by Miso Music Portugal in the context of the exhibition "A Guerra Guardada - Fotografias de Soldados Portugueses em Angola, Guiné e Moçambique (1961-74)" "CThe Guarded War - Photographs of Portuguese Soldiers in Angola, Guinea and Mozambique (1961-74)"
Together with the photograph that was randomly attributed to me, we hear the moving story of an ex-soldier who met Vitor during his time in Mozambique. As his father's whereabouts were uncertain and he had been abandoned by his alcoholic mother, Vitor was "adopted" by this Portuguese soldier who offered him comfort, love and security as if he were his own son
The piece is divided into three very clear sections that are based on formal divisions contained in the story itself. "Vitor" is the introductory movement and focuses on the father-son relationship that naturally exists between the two main characters. The second movement, "Do you mind, Captain?", tries to highlight the youthfulness and childlike energy of Vitor who, every time he entered the mess hall for lunch, would ask the captain if he could allow him to sit with him, saluting.
The third and final movement, "Last goodbye", is a nostalgic and somewhat meditative sequence, inspired by the deeply moving ending of this story.
"As if he were a son" is a piece dedicated to the Sond'Ar-te Trio and Miso Music Portugal, one of the most important organisations in the promotion, dissemination and preservation of contemporary Portuguese music.
biography:
Born in Braga, Pedro Lima is a prominent Portuguese composer. He graduated from the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatoire of Music and, in 2017, entered the MA in Opera Making & Writing at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama. At the age of 21, he premiered his first piece for orchestra and a year later won the Portuguese Society of Authors Composition Prize. After a residency at Casa da Música in 2019, he wrote Talking About my Generation (2019), the piece that now gives its name to the composer's debut album.