Ellen Ballon and the First Piano Concerto

This is very cool: a letter from the Canadian pianist Ellen Ballon to Heitor Villa-Lobos, setting out the arrangements for her commission for his 1st Piano Concerto, in 1945. This is from the new Museu Villa-Lobos website.

Ballon played the world premiere of the work in 1947 with the Dallas Symphony under Antal Dorati, while the Canadian premiere took place at Plateau Hall in Montréal in 1953, with the OSM under Désiré Defauw. She did indeed record the work for the first time, for London in 1949, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Ernest Ansermet.

Piano concertos in Cuba

It's raining piano concertos in Cuba. Following a very successful series of concerts and an award-winning disc of the five Villa-Lobos concertos, some of the participants are planning a series of the five Beethoven concertos in Havana, with the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra (OSM).

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM: December 2007

Here are Villa-Lobos performances upcoming on Cultura FM from Sao Paulo. Listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EST. The highlight of the month: the live performance of the first piano concerto performed by Nelson Freiere on the 18th (repeated on the 19th).

December 1:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música: VILLA-LOBOS - A lenda do caboclo./ Ondulando. Sonia Rubinsky (piano). / Suíte para cordas. I Musici de Montreal. Dir.: Yuli Turovsky./ Jaime ZENAMON - Fantasias. Matias de Oliveira Pinto (violoncelo). Jaime Zenamon (violão) Radamés GNATTALI - Brasiliana no. 8. Sérgio&Odair Assad/ Egberto GISMONTI - Palhaço.Charlie Haden (contrabaixo). Jan Garbarek (saxofone) Egberto Gismonti (piano).

December 3:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Trio n° 2, para piano e cello Monique Duphil, (piano), Lenuta Cinlei, (violino), Florian Ebersberg( cello) -Trio Villa-Lobos, Caracas./ Choros n° 7 Chamber Music Palm Beach./ Três Marias ( Alnitah, Alnilan, Nintika) Guiomar Novaes, (piano).

December 10:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: O Mundo das Crianças: A Prole do Bebe n° 2 - Francette e Piá Piano.

December 13:
15:00 TARDE CULTURA - Música e Notícia - Fabio Malavoglia: Entre outras obras, o Tema com Variações da Sonata op. 25 para bandolim e violão de Mauro GIUGLIANI, o Concerto da Camera em dó sustenido menor,op. 10 n° 2 de ALKAN e "Uirapurú", balé para orquestra de VILLA-LOBOS.

December 15:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música: Mário TAVARES - Quinteto para instrumentos de sopro. Quinteto Villa Lobos. / VILLA LOBOS - Assobio a jato. William Bennet (flauta). Charles Tunnel (violoncelo). Glauco VELÁSQUEZ - Devaneio "sobre as ondas". Roberto Szidon (piano). / Radamés GNATTALI - Sonatina coreográfica. Aída e Radamés Gnattali/ VILLA-LOBOS - New York Skyline. Orquestra Sinfônica da Rádio de Suttgart. Dir.: Carl St Clair.

December 17:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS - com Turíbio Santos: Duo para oboé e fagote Petra Fluhr, oboé Ulrich Freund (fagote). /Bachianas Brasileiras n° 6 para flauta e fagote, Joachim Schmitz (flauta). Ulrich Freund, (fagote)./ Trio para oboé clarineta e fagote. Petra Fluhr (oboé). Johannes Moog. (clarineta). Ulrich Freund (fagote)/ Sonata Fantasia n° 1 para violino e piano. Ngagul Tumangelor (violino). Bojidar Noev (piano).

December 18:
13:00 DELICATESSEN - Kika Leoi: VIVALDI - Concerto em si bemol, Op.4 No.1. Arte dei Suonatori. / VILLA-LOBOS - Impressões Seresteiras. João Carlos Assis Brasil (piano). / Michael TIPPETT - Little Music. Guildhall String Ensemble. / GRIEG - "Sostenuto - Allegro Vivace" do Quarteto para cordas em fá maior. Quarteto de cordas de Oslo.

14:00 PIANÍSSIMO - O piano, seu repertório, seus intérpretes: STRAUSS: BURLESCA / VILLA-LOBOS: CONCERTO N°1 - NELSON FREIRE (ao vivo). Apresentação: Pianista e Professor Gilberto Tinetti. (repeated December 19, 01:00)

December 22:
15:00 MÚSICA DE CÂMARA: Richard WAGNER - Abertura de Tristão e Isolda. Ensemble Peter Buck./ Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Ciranda das sete notas e aria das bachianas n° 5. Franck Morelli (fagote). Benjamin Verdery (violão)./ Charles IVES - Quarteto de Cordas n° 1. Emerson String Quartet. / Isaac ALBENIZ - Sonata n° 3. Albert Guinorat (piano)./ Carl Phillip Emanuel BACH - Concerto para Oboé, cordas e baixo continuo em si bemol maior. Burkhard Glaetzner (oboé). Nues Bachisches Collegium Musicum Leipzig.

16:30 OSESP AO VIVO - Gravações exclusivas realizadas na Sala São Paulo: John Neschiling, regente / Dezsö Ránki, piano. Silvestre Revueltas - Sensemayá. / Béla Bartók - Concerto n° 2 para piano. / Heitor Villa-Lobos - Bachianas brasileiras n° 4. / Ottorino Respighi - Pini di Roma. (Repeated December 23, 12:30)

December 24:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Quarteto (1928) - Joachim Schmitz (flauta). Petra Fluhr (oboé). Johannes Moog (clarineta). Uhrich Freund (fagote). Sonata Fantasia n° 2 para violino e piano - Ngagul Tumangelov (violino). Bojidor Noev (piano). Trio n° 2, para piano e cello. Monique Duphil (piano). Florian Ebersberg (cello). Trio Villa-Lobos, Caracas . Choros n° 7 - Chamber Music Palm Beach

December 25 (Merry Christmas!):
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações. Heitor VILLA-LOBOS -Trio para cordas./ Mozart Camargo GUARNIERI - trio para cordas. / Amaral VIERA - Quinteto para piano e cordas op.297. Ensemble Capriccio. Chouhei Min (violino). Korey Konkol(viola). Mina Fisher(cello). Artistas convidados:Max Barros (piano). William Schrickel(contra -baixo).

December 26:
07:00 DESPERTE COM OS CLÁSSICOS: KREISLER - Tamborim Chines. Jin Li (violino). Geoffrey Parsons (piano)./ COPLAND - Corral Nocturne, de Rodeo. Orquestra Sinfônica de St. Louis. Reg.: Leonard Slatkin./ RAVEL - Pavana para uma infanta morta. Orquestra Nova Philharmonia. Reg.: Lorin Maazel./ VILLA-LOBOS - Bachianas Brasileiras n° 5. Netania Davrath (soprano). Carl Stern (violoncelo). Orquestra Filarmônica de Nova Iorque. Reg.: Leonard Bernstein.

December 27:
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações : Silvestre REVUETAS - Quarteto n°4. Quarteto n°2. / Alberto GINASTERA Quarteto n°1 op. 20. / Heitor VILLA -LOBOS -Quarteto N 17. Quarteto Latino Americano.

December 28:
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi: MOZART - "Allegro" do Divertimento III K.439b. The New World Basset Horn Trio. / VILLA-LOBOS - "Cirandas" das Bachianas brasileiras No.5. Lydia Kennedy, Frans Van Gurp (violões). / STRAVINSKY - Petrouchka, Burlesque em quatro cenas. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Reg.: Ricardo Chailly. / Georg WAGENSEIL - "Adágio" do Concerto para trombone e orquestra em mi bemol maior. Branimir Slokar (trombone). Orquestra de Câmara de Lausanne. Reg.: Jean-Marie Auberson.

December 29:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música: Cesar CAMARGO MARIANO - Cristal. Yo-Yo MA (violoncelo). César Camargo Mariano (piano)/ VILLA-LOBOS - A lenda do caboclo. .Sérgio ASSAD - Menino Yo-Yo MA (violoncelo). Duo Assad. / Tom JOBIM - Lenda. Orquestra. Dir.: Roberto Minczuk. / Luís COSME - Mãe d´água canta/ Oração à Teiniaguá. / Brincando de pegar. Marcelo Guerchfeld (violino), Maly Weissemblum (piano). Waldyr AZEVEDO - Pedacinhos do céu. Nikolaj Znaider (violino), Emmanuel Pahud (flauta), Alex Klein (oboé), Larry Combs (clarinete), Robert Bassinger (contrabaixo), Cyro Baptista (percussão) , Daniel Barenboim (piano) .

12:00 CONCERTOS DO MEIO DIA com o maestro Walter Lourenção: As Bachianas Brasileiras n° 7 de VILLA-LOBOS por Betin Günes e a Orquestra Sinfônica de Izmir

December 30:
07:00 DESPERTE COM OS CLÁSSICOS: BEETHOVEN - Andante Cantabile con moto, da sinfonia n°2 em ré maior, op. 36. Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. Reg.: John Neschling./ BACH - Ária e Variações de 1 a 5, das Variações Goldberg, BWV 988. Andras Schiff (piano). / ALBÉNIZ -El Corpus en Sevilla, de "Iberia". Orquerstra Sinfônica de Cincinatti. Reg.: Jesús López-Cobos. / VILLA-LOBOS - Sexteto Místico. Antonio Carrasqueira (flauta). Luís Carlos Justi (oboé). Dilson Florêncio (saxofone). Cristina Braga (harpa). Maria Teresa Madeira (celesta). Turíbio Santos

December 31:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Bachianas Brasileiras n° 4 - Pro Arte Guitar Trio./ Modinhas e Canções Vol. 1 e Vol.2 - Ane Maria Bondi (soprano). François Petit (piano).

New CDs from Brana Records

I've just received three new CDs from Mark Walmsley, Executive Producer at Brana Records. Most exciting is Villa-Lobos Live!, which includes two major works for piano and orchestra played by the legendary pianist Felicja Blumental.



Though I've only had the chance for a quick listen, it's clear that this is an important issue, on musical as well as historical grounds. The 5th Piano Concerto was dedicated to Felicja Blumental (1908-1991), who was born in Poland but who lived in Brazil from 1942. This splendid pianist played the work at its premiere in London in 1955 with the composer at the podium. An version of of the work with Blumental and Villa-Lobos playing with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française has long been available as part of the 6-CD set Villa-Lobos par lui-meme. I'm anxious to hear these two works side by side.

The other major work is the excellent but underplayed Bachianas Brasileiras no. 3, written in 1938. This work matches Blumental with the Filarmonica Triestina. There's a trade-off here: this is a less accomplished orchestra, and certainly the work is less authoritatively interpreted by conductor Luigi Toffolo. However, I would argue this is a much greater work than the later, more flashy 5th Piano Concerto. More on this CD soon...

The other two CDs are interesting as well, and sound great. Felicja Blumental also plays piano in the CD Brazilian Forms. The big work here is Hekel Tavares Concerto in Brazilian Forms for Piano and Orchestra, a piece that sounds on first hearing surprisingly unlike Villa-Lobos. With conductor Anatole Fistoulari and the London Symphony Orchestra providing excellent support, the work is given the best possible presentation. Also on this CD are two works by Albeniz with Blumental accompanied by Italian orchestras.

On another CD soprano Annette Celine (Felicja Blumental's daughter) sings Cantigas - Brazilian Songs: music by Waldemar Henrique and Villa-Lobos, along with a sampling of the best South American composers of art songs. The three Villa-Lobos songs are all well-known, and among the composer's best: Cançâo Do Poeta Século XVIII, Nesta Rua, and Vióla Quebrada (one of my favourites, from the Chansons typiques bresiliennes, published in Paris in 1929). This is a marvellous recital - Celine's still strong voice combines with a completely solid grasp of the phrasing and rhythms of this music. Young pianist Christopher Gould provides excellent support, which is so important, since nearly every song has a piano accompaniment of some importance, and in some cases of distinction.

All three of these new CDs are warmly recommended.