Radames Gnatalli, Brazilian Classical Music Composer

Radames Gnatalli, 82, a Brazilian contemporary classical music composer who also wrote and played jazz and folk music. Gnatalli, the son of Italian immigrants, composed orchestral and solo works for piano, violin, guitar and a ukulele-like instrument called the cavaquinho. In the 1940s Gnatalli’s compositions, considered avant-garde, were praised in the United States, Britain and Argentina and were compared to works of Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss. Gnatalli also composed and played “choros,” a Brazilian urban jazz music generally played by informal pickup or street bands. In Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday of pneumonia.