VL Conference Report - Day two from Paris

Here are Lee Boy's reports from the second day of the Conference - Thursday, April 11.

Luis Fernando Lima - Choros no. 8 by Villa-Lobos: A Semiotic Analysis - "Lima presented an unusually lucid and insightful analysis of Choros No. 8, explaining the different levels of communication involved, as well as the components of the score. He made semiotic analysis seem exciting and useful, and not, as I have seen it described, 'frightful gobbledy gook'."

Cristina Bittencourt - Une hypothese de construction d'une interpretation - "Bittencourt is a pianist who explained how she arrived at a full interpretation of one of the Cirandas by examining the progressively complex relationships the composer invested in the simple elements of the sustained melodic notes and the constantly running cells of 16th notes. Maestro Duarte identified some fo the Brazilian folk sources in this piece and congratulated Cristina on her discoveries."

Anais Flechet - Entre musique et image: la reception des oeuvres de Villa-Lobos en France dans les annees 1920 - "Flechet examined French music criticism in the 1920's with respect to VL's music itself and the French thirst for exoticism in that period. Villa-Lobos was seen by Henry Pruniere, Florent Schmitt, and others as a 'bon sauvage' in some cases, and a 'sauvage sauvage' in others."

Flavia Toni - Amizade de Mario Andrade e Villa-Lobos - "Flavia Toni read several letters from an important correspondence between VL and Mario de Andrade, 'the Pope of Modernism,' revealing the great excitement both men felt at the birth of this new music and the strength they obtained through sharing these feelings with each other. Luis Fernando Lima pointed out that in the early 1920's the period of the letters Flavia Toni covered, Mario had not yet settled on his complete conception of Brazilian Modernism. Thus VL, far from not being 'one of them,' is shown to have exerted a strong influence."

Mario Rey - Narrative in the Chamber Works of Heitor Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras - "Mario Rey applied the interpreative categories of a noted semiotician to 3 Cantigas, from BB's 4, 5 and 6. He used transparences of the music and CD excerpts to illustrate his insights. For example, in BB6, for flute and bassoon, the composer wants the listener to notice the virtuosity of the flute player, as well as the beauty of the notes. He explained how Bach's musical techniques were applied in non-Baroque ways. In the question period, he was asked why Bach, as opposed to, say, Mozart, was chosen to be synthesized with Brazilian materials. Dr. Rey reminded us all that VL was a cellist, and would have known the Bach cello suites intimately."

Emmanual Gorge - Influences indigenes sur le langage musical de Villa-Lobos - "Gorge was reading Jean de Lery's book about his trip to early Brazil and discovered the musical examples he collected. Gorge showed some examples of VL's use of this material, played some recordings, and discussed some French composers with an interest in this type of material. Maestro Vidal told us about Messiaen's enthusiasm for VL."

"More to Follow..."