Patriotism, progress and crisis

This is a very fine CD from one of my favourite Brazilian guitarists, Alvaro Henrique. It's a good chance to learn a bit about what's up with Brazilian composers after Villa-Lobos. Here we have Jorge Antunes, Mario Ferraro and Carlos Alberto da Silva, in an album with the theme of the creation and history of Brasilia.

Henrique begins patriotically with his own arrangement for guitar of Louis Moreau Gottschalk's Grand Triumphal Fantasy on the Brazilian National Anthem. This was a pleasant surprise. You expect empty jingoism from something like this. It's virtuosic enough, but there's more substance than expected in this surprisingly intimate and sometimes moving piece.

I'm not an expert in these matters, but I know that Brasilia means more to Brazilians than Ottawa means to Canadians, or Washington (in a positive or a negative way) to Americans. The "spirit of Brasilia" is the theme of Carlos Alberto Silva's Reconstruction of Brasilia, an updating of the original spirit for the 21st century. Alternating progress and crisis, political and economic, doesn't change the underlying love of Brazilians for their country. Mario Ferraro's Little Suite from Brasilia paints pictures of real beauty of the landscapes before and after the city's construction.

The highlight of the disc, though, is Jorge Antunes' important work Brasilia 50. Each movement of this work (which I assume is a still in progress) represents a year in the history of Brasilia and the Brazilian and world events that affect it. In 1963, which has amazing relevance for politics around the world today, Antunes includes a snippet of a speech by John F. Kennedy: "Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions." This is interrupted, of course, by gunshots, and Antunes adds a haunting guitar coda. Other years include speeches in Portuguese, and though one might not know the content, sound effects and the guitar commentary help to provide context and musical interest. 1974 begins with the light but always sad fado music of Portugal, and is once again interrupted by ominous sounds. This time it has a happier outcome: the Carnation Revolution.

This is a fascinating project, and I hope to hear the years from 1976 to 2010 some time in the future.

The Lost 6th Prelude Found? [Nope]

What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. - Matthew 18:12-13

I was excited to read this tweet from Brazilian guitarist Alvaro Henrique today:

@alvaroguitar http://brazilianguitar.net/index.php?showtopic=3453 Achado o 6o Prelúdio para Violão de Heitor Villa-Lobos!

Alvaro links to this post at the forum Brazilianguitar.net:

http://brazilianguitar.net/index.php?showtopic=3453

Is it really true that the missing 6th Prelude of Villa-Lobos has been found?  This being April Fool's Day, I was immediately suspicious that this most important Villa-Lobos find ever might be a joke. As I said in a message to Alvaro, it sounds too good to be true. Here, thanks to Google Translate, is the gist of the story.

The Brazilian rock musician Dado Villa-Lobos and his brother Luis Octavio Villa-Lobos, grand-nephews of the composer, were looking through some papers of their father, the diplomat Jayme Villa-Lobos. There they found the score to the missing Sixth Prelude (left behind in Paris when Villa-Lobos & Mindinha returned to Brazil), as well as other works for guitar, including a complete version of Valsa de Concerto no 2. Also found were sketches for a symphony Villa-Lobos had planned in honour of Brasilia. Unfortunately, the composer died before the symphony (and the city) could be completed.

According to Alvaro's post the found Prelude will be played by guitarist Marcus Moraes at the next meeting of Associação Brasiliense de Violão (BRAVIO), on April 10th.

Boy, it's hard enough for me to keep from getting tricked in my own language.  If I have to get to Google Translate to help, I may be in trouble!  I will keep you all posted!

April 5: Well, yeah, it was a joke.  Alvaro tweeted this:

@alvaroguitar @villa_lobos Vill Unfortunately it is a April Fool's Day joke... Too good to be true! 

Of course, it seems obvious now.  The Villa-Lobos in-laws who are likely to have lost scores would be Guimares, the families of the brothers of Villa's first wife Lucilia.  Good joke!