Villa-Lobos/Brandão at St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Every time I'm in London I try to get to one of the great lunchtime concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, which date back to WWII and Dame Myra Hess. One concert last month featured the Italian pianist Vincenzo Delli Noci playing music by Villa-Lobos, Ponce, and Piazzolla.

Delli Noci chose really interesting Villa-Lobos works: the arrangements for piano of the 5 Preludes for Guitar by José Vieira Brandão. The Preludes are among the greatest works ever written for the guitar, and they work very well on the piano.

Here is the 4th Prelude from that concert:



Incidentally, for all you pianists out there, the Brandão arrangements of the Preludes are available in the compilation Heitor Villa-Lobos en dix-huit morceaux pour piano, from Di-Arezzo.

Radamés Gnattali String Quartet plays Villa-Lobos on DVD/Blu Ray

The Radamés Gnattali String Quartet play the first movement of Villa-Lobos's great 7th String Quartet. The Quartet will be releasing the first ever DVD/Blu Ray set of all of the 17 String Quartets, at 8pm on March 5th (Villa's birthday) in the Museu Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro. The discs are released on the Visom Digital label and will be distributed by Biscoito Fino.

Rheingau Music Festival

I love it when I can bring my love of wine into my Villa-Lobos web work. I've always been a huge fan of German wine. Riesling is one of the world's greatest grapes, and the complicated universe of the German wine label really intrigues me.

Which brings me to the 2012 Rheingau Musik Festival, to be held from the 23rd of June to the 14th of December, in the home of some of Germany's finest wines. There are two concerts of special interest to Villa-Lobos fans:

• on August 5th, the Romero family of guitarists will play music by Villa-Lobos, Chapi, Granados, & Pepi Romero, in the Fürst-von-Metternich-Saal of Schloss Johannisberg 
• the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP) travels to Germany for a concert on August 18th in Kurhaus Wiesbaden. Marin Alsop conducts, and Nelson Freire will play Mômoprécoce for piano and orchestra 

Another Brazilian concert of note: classical & jazz pianist Eliane Elias will present her jazz quartet at a concert on August 1st, in the Kurpark, Bad Homburg. I love Elias's jazz - especially when she plays music by Tom Jobim - but she's also an accomplished classical pianist. Check out her EMI album On the Classical Side, which includes a number of works by her country-man Villa-Lobos.

It occurs to me that the great sweet wines of Germany have some similarities with the music of Villa-Lobos. They're both "over-ripe" in a technical sense, but they can both show power and delicacy at the same time. I have a bottle of 1976 Oppenheimer Sackträger Gewürztraminer Trockenbeerenauslese made by Hajo Guntrum in my cellar that I plan to drink soon. When I open it, I think I'll play this music by Heitor Villa-Lobos:

90th Anniversary of the Semana de Arte Moderna

Next month brings the 90th Anniversary of a seminal event in the cultural history of Brazil: the Semana de Arte Moderna, which was held in Sao Paulo's Theatro Municipal from the 13th to the 17th of February 1922. The music of Villa-Lobos was featured in a series of famous controversial concerts.

The Theatro Municipal will be the scene of some really interesting concerts celebrating this event. Pianist Caio Pagana will perform Carnaval das Criancas and the first book of the Guia pratico. Pablo Rossi will play Momoprecoce. And the 2010 Paris production of Magdalena will be revived with five performances.

Al Bustan Festival 2012: Music from Latin America

Latin American music is featured at the 2012 Al Bustan Festival, which takes place in Beirut from February 21st to March 25th.  The headliners include pianists Cristina Ortiz and Jose Feghali, conductor Alondra de la Parra, cellist Antonio Meneses, guitarists Sergio & Odair Assad, and the Cuarteto Latinoamericano.

Report from Paris, April 1930

From Le Ménestrel, April 11, 1930. Villa-Lobos was making quite a stir in Paris with these works, some of his best music from the 1920s.

New Marcelo Bratke CD

In 2010 Marcelo Bratke began his series of complete Villa-Lobos piano music on Quartz Music.  Here is the second volume.

As Irineu Franco Perpetuo notes in his liner notes, all of the works on this disc make specific reference to Brazil:

• Bachianas Brasilerias No 4
• A Lenda Do Caboclo
• Saudades Das Selvas Brasileiras
• Choros No 5 "Alma Brasileira"
• Ciclo Brasileiro

This disc is available at the Quartz Music site.  It hasn't shown up yet on Amazon.com, but is available at Amazon.co.uk.

Humberto Mauro's Sangue Mineiro

The Brazilian film-maker Humberto Mauro is best known for his 1937 film Descobrimento do Brasil, the score of which was written by Villa-Lobos. New to YouTube is this beautiful silent film Sangue Mineiro, from 1929, a restored print from BossaFilmes with an excellent soundtrack of music from the period.

Villa-Lobos's first String Quartet plays an important role in the score, as does his rarely-heard orchestral work Ruda: God of Love. The complete music credits are at 1:16:40; included are pieces by Mignone, Hekel Tavares, Camargo Guarnieri, Nazareth, and Guerra Peixe.

Villa-Lobos Top 10

In commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of Villa-Lobos's death, journalist Rui Agapito wrote this excellent article at ovale.com.br [English translation by Google]. I was really pleased that Rui asked me to come up with my favourite 10 pieces by Villa-Lobos. My choice:

1. Preludes for guitar
2. Choros #10
3. Nonetto
4. Quarteto simbolico
5. Bachianas Brasileiras #5
6. String Quartet #07
7. Prole do Bebê, book 1
8. Uirapuru
9. Floresta do Amazonas
10. Missa São Sebastião

What are your favourite 10 works by Villa?

Villa-Lobos for trumpet & orchestra

Here's a brand-new video from the 49th Festival Villa-Lobos taking place this month in Rio. This is a fabulous new arrangement of the Saxophone Fantasia for trumpet and orchestra, by Roberto Duarte.

Marcelo Rodolfo from the Museu Villa-Lobos says this about the new piece in an email:

According to Flávio Gabriel, the splendid trumpet player who accepted the challenge, this is the most difficult work he ever played in his life. But the result, as you'll hear is worth it. A lot!!! My expectation is that other trumpet players will be encouraged to meet this challenge, too. Strangely, Villa-Lobos never wrote a work for trumpet, even in chamber music, just some solos in orchestral parts.

This concert is from November 19th, and featured Orquestra Sinfônica de Barra Mansa, under the direction of Vantoil de Souza. Two other concerto arrangements are being premiered at this year's Festival: Cirandas das Sete Notas (for cello - originally for bassoon), and the Guitar Concerto (for harp).

I'm anxious to hear what you Villa-Lobos lovers think about this new take on a very familiar work.