Klang der Welt - Brasilien

Here's a new addition to the Naxos Music Library: a disc from a label I hadn't heard of before, New Classical Adventure from Germany. The disc is the Brazilian entry in the Klang der Welt series, with instrumentalists from the Deutschen Oper Berlin and soprano Adriane Queiroz.

The disc includes an excellent version of Villa's Quinteto em forma de Choros, a work which has been well-served on CD. More interestingly, it includes a group of chamber works by composers from Villa-Lobos's generation and the generations that followed him.

Two of Villa's contemporaries on the disc are the fairly obscure Luciano Gallet, and Francisco Mignone, who is actually fairly well represented on CD. From the generation following Villa, there are Camargo Guarnieri and Claudio Santoro, two of the best-known composers in Brazil after Villa-Lobos. Finally, a generation or two later, we have Ronaldo Miranda (born in 1948), and João Guilherme Ripper (born in 1959).

Actually, the generation before Villa-Lobos is also represented on this disc. Ronaldo Miranda's work is Variações sérias sobre um tema de Anacleto de Medeiros, from 1991. It makes use of a very well known, and very lovely, melody by the great Choros musician who was born in 1866, and died in 1907. Anacleto was an important influence on Villa-Lobos, so this piece brings us full circle. While listening to this disc, I learned a lot about the context of Villa-Lobos's music and his legacy. This is an enjoyable programme - highly recommended.