MPB4 launches album recording a concert presented in October 2024 and recorded months later in the rehearsal room of the Petrobras symphony Daniel Ebendinger / Disclosure ? ALBUM REVIEW Title: symphonic MPB4 Artist: MPB4 and Orquestra Petrobras Sinfônica Rating: ? ? ? ? ? Symphonic forays into the world of music Brazilian popular songs are already recurrent in the national discography. In the digital phonographic world since yesterday, July 31st, the album “MPB4 symphônico” records the concert that marked the meeting of the group from Rio de Janeiro with the Orquestra Petrobras Sinfônica in October 2024 as part of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the group formed in 1962 – in the politicized university environment of Niterói (RJ) – and professionalized in 1964. Recorded months later, already in 2025, in the Rio de Janeiro orchestra's rehearsal room at Fundição Progresso (RJ), the album features 14 songs that sound like a good example of the equally committed trajectory of this group, which is one of the most complete translations of the MPB universe, a label given to music produced from the 1960s onwards by artists with generally university training, such as Chico Buarque – singer and composer whose career was inseparable from MPB4 until the mid-1970s and, for that very reason, author of six of the 14 songs on the album “MPB4 symphônico” – and Gilberto Gil. By the way, Gil is Chico's partner in “Cálice” (1973), reheard in the symphony in a sacred and sometimes even funereal tone in Itamar Assiere's arrangement, in a register that is in tune with the appropriately mournful tone of “Angélica” (Miltinho and Chico Buarque, 1977). Pianist, Assiere is part of the arranger group for the album “MPB4 symphônico” alongside Gilson Santos, Jaime Alem and Paulo Malaguti Pauleira. With the touch of the orchestra conducted by maestro Felipe Prazeres, Aquiles Reis (voice), Dalmo Medeiros (voice and country guitar), Miltinho (voice and guitar) and Paulo Malaguti Pauleira (voice and keyboards) rewind a repertoire that generally fits well into the symphonic framework, including standards such as “O cio da terra” (Chico Buarque and Milton Nascimento, 1977). MPB4 sings 14 songs under the baton of Felipe Prazeres, conductor of the Orquestra Petrobras Sinfônica Daniel Ebendinger / Disclosure It is a fact that all 14 songs have already been better recorded by MPB4 throughout a discography of vigor concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s. Still, there are many beauties in the group's Brazilian symphony in an album valued for its arrangements. Arranged by Paulo Malaguti, “Porto” (Dori Caymmi, 1975) gains melancholy in the introduction with the touches of violins, oboes and horns heard before the quartet’s vocals. “Notícias do Brasil (Os Aves Tram)” (Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant, 1981) – a song that only entered the MPB4 discography two years ago in a recording made with Milton Nascimento for the album “60 anos de MPB” (2024) – takes on an epic air in the arrangement by Itamar Assiere while the samba-canção “Última forma” (Baden Powell and Paulo César Pinheiro, 1972) has the scars of love disappointment cherished by the ropes. In fact, in the same painful vein as “Última forma”, MPB4 reworks “Cicatrizes” (Miltinho and Paulo César Pinheiro), the samba that gave the name to the anthological 1972 album in which “Última forma” appeared. With an inventive arrangement by Gilson Santos, “O ronco da cuíca” (João Bosco and Aldir Blanc, 1975) – samba performed in Simone’s voice – evolves full of breaks, falling in an unusual way into symphonic swing in an orchestration that highlights the percussions of Pedro Moita and Tiago Calderano. And behold, after a partnership between Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins (“Velas içadas”, 1979) and after songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim (1927 – 1994) such as “Samba doplane” (1962) and “Falando de amor” (1979), “Roda viva” (Chico Buarque, 1967) arrives at the end of the album released by the Biscoito Fino record label. And there is no way for the MPB4 symphony to deviate from the original arrangement created for the 1967 festival by Antônio José Waghabi Filho (November 14, 1943 – August 8, 2012), Magro, responsible for the vocal identity of MPB4, a group that finds a safe haven in the symphonic touch of the Petrobras orchestra. Cover of the album 'MPB4 symphônico', by MPB4 & Orquestra Petrobras Sinfônica Disclosure