Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM: March 2009

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.

March 1:
23:00 NOTURNO - musica romântica na cultura FM:
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Quatuor. Lontano. Dir. Odaline de La Martinez./ Charles KOECHLIN - Primavera. Quinteto. Philippe Racine (flauta). Xênia Schindler (harpa). Robert Zimansky (violino). Monika Clemann (viola). Curdin Coray (cello). / Piotr TCHAIKOVSKY - Canção de ninar opus 16 no. 1 Jorge Bolet (piano)./ MENDELLSOHN - Scherzo de Sonhos de uma Noite de Verão./ Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH - Elegia. Quarteto de Cordas Fitzwilliam.

March 3:
15:00 TARDE CULTURA - Música e Notícia:
Entre outras obras, Pequena Suíte de Heitor VILLA-LOBOS. Rebecca Rust (viloncelo). David Apter (piano). Fantasia para violino e harpa op.124 de Camille SAINT-SAËNS. Renaud Capuçon (violino). Marie-Pierre Langlamet (harpa) e Concerto para piano, violino, violoncelo op. 56 de Ludwig van BEETHOVEN. Martha Argerich (piano). Renaud Capuçon (violino). Mischa Maisky (violoncelo). Orquestra della Svizzera Italiana. Reg.: Alaxandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky.

March 4:
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Teresa Lima:
Percy GRAINGER - Irish Tune from County Derry. Orquestra Sinfônica de Saint Louis. Reg.: Leonard Slatkin. / Louis SPOHR - Quarteto duplo n° 4 em sol menor. Op. 136. Conjunto de Câmara da Academy of St. Martin-in-the-fields. / Antonio SALIERI - Concerto para pianoforte em dó maior. Andreas Staier (pianoforte). Concerto Köln. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Concerto para violão e Pequena Orquestra. Turíbio Santos (violão). Orquestra de Câmara Brasileira. Reg.: Bernardo Bessler.

March 7:
09:00 O PRAZER DA MÚSICA com Marcelo Jaffè:
O Violoncelo de Antonio Meneses. Felix MENDELSSOHN - Sonata n.2 em Ré Maior op.58. Antonio Meneses (violoncelo), Gerard Wyss (piano). / Bohuslav MARTINU - Sonata n.3 para violoncelo e piano. Antonio Meneses (violoncelo), Celina Szrvinsk (piano). / Heitor VILLA LOBOS - Ária da Bachianas Brasileiras n.5 . Antonio Meneses (violoncelo), Celina Szrvinsk (piano).
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - A lenda do caboclo. / Ondulando. / Quinteto em forma de choros. Sonia Rubinsky (piano). / Jaime ZENAMON - Fantasias. Matias de Oliveira Pinto (violoncelo). Jaime Zenamon (violão). / Radamés GNATTALI - Brasiliana n°8. Sérgio&Odair Assad (violões). / César GUERRA PEIXE - Quatro coisas para piano e harmônica de boca. Rildo Hora (harmônica). Ruth Serrão. (piano).

March 14:
08:00 QUATRO ESTAÇÕES - A Música ocidental em épocas e estilos:
O BARROCO: Georg Philipp Telemann, (1681 - 1767) - Concerto para trompete em ré maior. Solista: Ole Edvard Antonsen (trompete). Orquestra de Câmara Inglesa. Reg.: Jeffrey Tate./ O CLASSICISMO: Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, (1739 - 1799) - Sinfonia em ré maior. Movimentos: Orquestra de Câmara Oradea. Reg.: Miron Ratiu. / O ROMANTISMO: Giacomo Puccini, (1858 - 1924) - Intermezzo do ópera Manon Lescaut. Orquestra Filarmonia. Reg.: Giuseppe Sinopoli./ O SÉCULO XX: Heitor Villa - Lobos, (1887 - 1959) - Concerto para violão e pequena orquestra. Turíbio Santos (violão). Orquestra de Câmara Brasileira. Reg.: Bernardo Bessler.
09:00 O PRAZER DA MÚSICA com Marcelo Jaffè:
Heitor VILLA LOBOS - Impressões Seresteiras. Eduardo Monteiro (piano). /
Heitor VILLA LOBOS - Bachianas Brasileiras n.4. Cristina Ortiz (piano). / HEITOR VILLA LOBOS - Choros n.10 ; BBC Singers, New World Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas. / Heitor VILLA LOBOS - Quarteto de Cordas n.5. Quarteto LatinoAmericano.
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
César GUERRA PEIXE - Valsa no. 3. Midori Maeshiro (piano). / Sergio ASSAD- Três Divertimentos. Aliéksey Vianna (violão). / Edmundo VILLANI CÔRTES - Águas claras. / Luz. Ricardo Amado (violino). Flávio Augusto (piano). / José Alberto KAPLAN - Sonata para trompete e piano. Nailson Simões (trompete). José Henrique Martins (piano). / 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). / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Suíte popular brasileira. Sérgio&Odair Assad (violões).

March 17:
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Teresa Lima:
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Três Cirandas. Pro Arte Guitar Trio. / Johann Sebastian BACH - Sonata n° 5 em fá menor BWV 1018. Péter Csaba (violino). Zoltán Kocsis (piano). / Robert SCHUMANN - Concerto para violoncelo e orquestra em lá menor Op. 129. Christophe Coin (violoncelo). Orquestra de Champs Elysées. Reg,: Philippe Herreweghe.

March 21:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Mário TAVARES - Quinteto para instrumentos de sopro. Quinteto Villa Lobos. / Heitor 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 (pianos). / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - New York Skyline. Orques

March 26:
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações:
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Trio n° 3 para cordas e piano. Artistrio: Yara Bernette (piano). Ayrton Pinto (violino). Antonio del Claro (violoncelo). / Quarteto para cordas n° 15. Bernardo Bessler e Michel Bessler (violinos). Marie-Christine Springuel (viola). Alceu Reis (violoncelo).
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Teresa Lima:
Johann Sebastian BACH - Suite n° 3 em ré maior BWV 1068. Akademie für alte musik Berlin. / Reinhold GLIERE - Concerto para harpa e orquestra Op. 74. Rachel Masters (harpa). City of London Sinfonia. Reg.: Richard Hickox. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Fantasia para saxofone e orquestra. Paulo Moura (saxofone). Orquestra de Câmara Brasileira. Reg.: Bernardo Bessler. / Heinrich Ignaz Franz von BIBER - The Nativity. John Holloway (violino). Davitt Moroney (órgão de câmara). Tragicomédia.

March 27:
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações:
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Trio n° 1 para cordas e piano. Artistrio: Yara Bernette (piano). Ayrton Pinto (violino). Antonio del Claro (violoncelo). / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Quarteto para cordas n° 16. Bernardo Bessler e Michel Bessler (violinos). Marie-Christine Springuel (viola). Alceu Reis (violoncelo). / Henri VIEUXTEMPS - Reverie op.22. Para violino e piano. Philippe Koch (violino). Luc Devos (piano).

March 28:
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações:
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Quarteto para cordas n° 17. Bernardo Bessler e Michel Bessler (violinos). Marie-Christine Springuel (viola). Alceu Reis (violoncelo). / Henri VIEUXTEMPS - Ballade et Polonaise op. 38. Romances sans parole op. 8. Romance sans parole op. 7. Philippe Koch (violino). Luc Devos (piano).
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Alberto NEPOMUCENO - Série Brasileira. Orquestra Sinfônica Nacional. Dir.: Ligia Amadio. / Francisco BRAGA - Episódio Sinfônico. Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de Campinas. Dir.: Benito Juarez. / Cesar CAMARGO MARIANO - Cristal. Yo-Yo MA (violoncelo). César Camargo Mariano (piano). / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - A lenda do caboclo. / Sérgio ASSAD - Menino. Yo-Yo MA (violoncelo). Duo Assad. / Tom JOBIM - Lenda. Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. Dir.: Roberto Minczuk.

March 31:
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações:
Pavel HAAS - Quarteto n° 2. Ronan Lefkowizt e Si-Jing Huang (violinos). Mark Ludwig (viola). Sato Knudsen (violoncelo). / Heitor VILLA- LOBOS - Quarteto n° 13. Bernardo Bessler e Michel Bessler (violinos). Marie-Christine Springuel (viola). Alceu Reis (violoncelo).

From the amazing book Brasil, 1920-1950: da antropofagia a Brasília : MAB-FAAP Museu de Arte Brasileira, 30 novembro 2002 a 02 março 2003, by Jorge Schwartz, this series of photos of Villa-Lobos by Manossolfa, taken in the 1930s. The original prints are in the Museu Villa-Lobos.

This book may be hard to find - you'll need to scour used bookstores and schmooz with interlibrary loan staff at your library. In the meantime, go to Google Books for a view.

Without the Atomic Bomb

This is a Villa-Lobos fragment from 1948 entitled "O Trambolho do Mundo (Sem a Bomba Atômica)". The picture - originally from the Arquivo Historico do Rio Grande do Sul - is reproduced on the back of the liner notes of the CD Musica em torno do Modernismo, from the amazing Caixa Modernista book/kit published by Editora UFMG, Sao Paulo, in 2003.

The subtitle means "Without the Atomic Bomb" - a nice dream in 1948 as it is today. I'm not at all sure what Trambolho means - Google translate doesn't seem to know, and I can't make head or tail of the word in various Portuguese language websites.

You wait here - I'll get help!

My friend Wellington Müller Bujokas to the rescue:

This is a hard word to translate, though the meaning is quite simple. I found the following translations in a dictionary: clog; (fig.) hindrance, impediment, burden; bunch (of keys), but I guess the better is to explain. Trambolho is an object that is big, useless and quite troublesome. Think that there's a huge old washing machine in the center of your living room that neither works nor ever will again, and that is there just because there's no other place to put it. For making it worse, you always stumble in its cable. For sure, you'll call it a trambolho. It's a very informal word and it sounds a little awkward, but it's not vulgar.

Thanks for the help, Wellington!

Tribute to Villa-Lobos at the New England Conservatory

The March 1st concert at the New England Conservatory includes a number of interesting items. First of all, for those of you in the Boston area who missed the two performances last week of the 2nd Cello Concerto by Andres Diaz and the Symphony Pro Musica, you'll have another chance on the first, at Jordan Hall. As well, there are lots of other works to be heard, among them Choros #01, Bachianas #5, and, according to the NEC press release, "several choral pieces that [NEC Preparatory School pianist Tatyana] Dudochkin found in the Villa-Lobos Museum that have never been published."

Dia da Música Clássica on Rádio MEC FM

The Dia Nacional da Música Clássica is coming soon; it's March 5th, which is Villa-Lobos's birthday.

This year, Rádio MEC FM will be celebrating by broadcasting live for three hours, direct from the Museu Villa-Lobos. Thanks to the Portal VivaMúsica website for this information. Listen here, on Thursday, March 5th, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Rio de Janeiro time, which is UTC minus 3 hours. That's 7 to 10 a.m. MST here in Red Deer.

Villa-Lobos Around the World

I'm adding Villa-Lobos concerts this year at a faster rate than I ever have. As usual, they come from all around the world. Here are the most popular places (out of 550 separate locations) for concerts from 1999 to 2010:

Rio de Janeiro - 191
São Paulo - 77
New York - 35
Paris - 19
London - 19
Berlin - 13
Belo Horizonte - 12
Porto - 11
Boston - 11
Montreal - 10
Richmond VA - 9
Vancouver - 8
Curitiba - 8
Los Angeles - 7
Washington DC - 7

From Croydon to Red Deer to Ho Chi Minh City, everyone is playing and listening to Villa-Lobos! If there's a concert I've missed, let me know.

Theme Country: Brazil

Each year the Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal names a Theme Country for its musical program. This year it's Brazil, and in the Ano Villa-Lobos, there's lots of music by Villa-Lobos. There are rarities like the orchestral version of New York Skyline, the Fantasia for Cello & Orchestra (which surely deserves much more exposure, especially played by António Meneses), Uirapuru, Choros #06 & #09 (on the same programme!), and the choral version of BB#9. Along with three other Bachianas Brasileiras (#2, #4, and #5), and some chamber works, the Orquestra Nacional do Porto does well by Villa-Lobos this year!

Villa-Lobos & Tom Jobim in Nagoya

Here's a cool story from Jornal IPC (a portal for news from Japan in Portuguese and Spanish): pianist Marcelo Bratke presents Villa-Lobos and Tom Jobim to school children in Nagoya.

Anthropophagism

"A cannibalism scene, by Montanus: signed on year 374 of Bishop Sardinha’s murder, in allusion to the practice of cannibalism, which seduced chronic writers and voyagers of past centuries, the Anthropophagic Manifesto proposes the devouring, without guilt, of all assets of the European civilization." (12.5 x 16 cm) engraving, 1671 from the Map collection of the Ministry of External Relations.

This from the Ministry's excellent Art and Culture website, Anthropophagism, by Walnice Nogueira Galvão. The Anthropophagic Manifesto by Oswald de Andrade (1890-1954) was a key document of Brazilian Modernism, and helped Villa-Lobos to develop his aesthetic of modernism, "indianism", and nationalism. Oswald de Andrade is a key member of the group who arranged the Semana de Arte Moderna in Sao Paulo in 1922; Villa-Lobos was the most important musical participant.

"I asked a man what Law was. He told me it was the guarantee of the practice of the possible. This man was called Galli Matias. I ate him (...)"

It all happened 87 years ago: February 11th to the 18th. In the early 1920s Villa-Lobos was busy devouring, without guilt, all the avant-garde music of Paris. Is Villa the most guilt-free of composers?

The Instruments of Ruda

In 1951 Villa-Lobos wrote one of his very strong late-period orchestral works, a ballet score written for La Scala called Ruda, subtitled The God of Love. There's only one recording of this work that I know of, the 1996 Marco Polo disc that includes Ruda and the Sixth Symphony, played by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Roberto Duarte.

In the last few days I've really been enjoying reading Villa-Lobos reviews in the brand-new Gramophone Archive. The reviews written by Lionel Salter from the 1950s through to the late 1990s are especially insightful. Reading a bunch of these reviews in a row is like a critical master class in the music of Villa-Lobos; Salter really knows his stuff. That's especially impressive when you consider the lack of context Salter had available in the earlier years: today's reference works, recordings, and scores weren't available at the time. Salter would have been lucky to have heard three of the symphonies in the late 1990s; we can now easily listen to all of the surviving works, and a few in multiple recordings.

As it happens, L.S.'s review of the Marco Polo disc is quite negative regarding the Sixth Symphony. But he absolutely loves Ruda. The "God of Love" theme, according to Salter,

"... was right up Villa-Lobos's street, affording him boundless opportunities for compulsive rhythms, misterioso passages, lushly lyric episodes (there is one in the Inca movement and another, somewhat Ravelian, for the Mayas), exotic melodic lines and, in places, wonderfully original instrumentation."

At this point in the review Salter has an interesting aside: "I believe the score includes a part for the Sonovox, but I was unable to detect it in the general melee."

Villa-Lobos's interest in out-of-the-way and especially in new technology instruments is well known. I've written about Villa's early use of the prepared piano, and, in Amazonas (1917), the use of the violinophone and the sarrusophone. The score for Ruda (the autograph of which is in the Museu Villa-Lobos) includes a part for the "solovox".

What is the solovox? Might it be the Hammond Solovox which according to this site was manufactured starting in 1940? This early electronic instrument is shown in this picture: "The Hammond Solovox consisted of a keyboard and a "tone cabinet" (speaker/amplifier/tone generator)."


Or is Villa-Lobos writing for a Sonovox, an electrified "talk box" which amplified the sounds made from a pickup placed right on the throat. Think about the sounds from 1940s Disney films: the "All Aboard! Let's Go!" sound in the Casey Jr. segment from Dumbo, and the interesting sounds in The Reluctant Dragon (both from 1941).



This is an interesting possibility, since at the time Villa-Lobos was hanging out with Disney's animators who were in Brazil working on their Good Neighbor masterpieces Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944). At the same time, Walt himself was considering the Little Train of the Caipira movement of Bachianas Brasileiras as a scene in 1940's Fantasia - a fascinating might-have-been. Is Villa-Lobos picking up new techology tips from Hollywood?

A peek at the Ruda score would help; I'll listen very carefully to Ruda with headphones to see if I can hear anything myself. Go to this page on Ruda for more about this interesting work.

Symphony Pro Musica

Symphony Pro Musica has been performing in MetroWest Boston for 25 years. Their March 14 and March 15 concerts include two major Villa-Lobos works that are finally breaking through into concert programmes around the world.

The 2nd Cello Concerto is a late work, written in 1953 for Aldo Parisot. Like the other commissioned concertos from this period (for Harmonica, Harp, and Guitar, at least, if not all of those for piano), this work is very strong: accessible and completely typical.

Dawn in the Tropical Forest (Alvorada Na Floresta Tropical) was written in the following year, on commission from the Louisville Orchestra. This work and the other tone poems and ballets represent the third most important group of Villa's orchestral works, after the Choros and Bachianas Brasileiras, and before the Symphonies. It's great to see them programmed by American orchestras in this Ano Villa-Lobos.

Nuts about Music in Brazil

Thanks to the brand-new, and very amazing, Gramophone Archive site, I can link to the full-text of the January 2007 article "Nuts about Music in Brazil", by Phillip Clark. With John Neschling unexpectedly gone, it's sad to read about the "swift rise of an orchestra poised to join the A-list."

Neschling is interesting, and insightful, when it comes to Villa-Lobos:

"He was a giant personality who gained tremendous power.... People have often mistaken his innovative orchestration for bad orchestration. It's like cutting thick hair; you really have to get inside to find where all the strands lead. Sometimes it's necessary to rethink his dynamics, but the soundworld is really like no other."

The Gramophone Archive really is something. Naturally, my first impulse was to search for "Villa-Lobos". The result was 1058 hits, which isn't that many when you consider that each review from 1920 to the present is included in this great resource. It's actually really close to one mention per issue: the archive opened with 1023 issues!

Did I mention it was free? Kudos to this great magazine for opening up this information to the world!

Villa-Lobos in the Weirdest Places

The first in a (perhaps) ongoing series. This is from the Brazilian mini-series Hoje é Dia de Maria, and features Rodrigo Santoro and Letícia Sabatella. There's probably a reason that guy is in a cage...

Oh, right, the song. It's from Forest of the Amazon.

One last thought: Baz Luhrmann could remake this with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

Another controversy in Brazil

Following on the heels of the John Neschling dismissal from Osesp comes news of the cancellation of Fabio Zanon's long-running Cultura FM series “O Violão Brasileiro” - The Brazilian Guitar. This is really unfortunate, since there were important shows still to come in Zanon's series.

The entire series is archived at the VIOLÃO com Fábio Zanon blog. A large subset (#14-115) is in MP3 here. This includes #53 Heitor Villa-Lobos, and #55 Heitor Villa-Lobos II. Other individual shows - including #130 Heitor Villa-Lobos III - are available in 64K Windows Media format, which sound fine but won't, of course, play on my iPhone or iPod.

Even if you can't understand Zanon's commentary, you can learn something about Villa's guitar music just by looking at his playlist selection. When he features the Preludes in #55, for example, he chooses Andrès Segovia for #1 and #3, and Julian Bream for #2, #4, and #5. The Etudes are divided between Marcelo Kayath, Manuel Barrueco, Everton Gloeden, Paulo Pedrassoli, and Fábio Zanon himself. And, of course, the music speaks for itself. The blog helpfully adds timings for each item in the shows' playlists.

Too bad about the budget-cutting at Rádio Cultura FM de São Paulo. When considering Zanon's and Neschlings' recent problems, some might look back to Villa-Lobos's many fights and bad feelings with the cultural establishment in Brazil. But I don't know enough about the issues to weigh in on the controversy itself. I'm just glad that these 160 shows are still available to listen to on the web.

Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais

Brazilian orchestras are now announcing their 2009 season programs. The Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte has a full slate of Villa-Lobos works coming up in the Ano Villa-Lobos, including:

• Bachianas Brasileiras #7 in March
• Bachianas Brasileiras #9 in June
• A Floresta do Amazonas in July
  
• Bachianas Brasileiras #3 (with Cristina Ortiz) and Choros #06 in August
• The Guitar Concerto (with Fabio Zanon) in September
• Uirapuru in November

That's a pretty good cross-section of Villa-Lobos's greatest music, with some world class soloists under the direction of Isaac Karabtchevsky, Ira Levin, and Music Director Fabio Mechetti.

Carmen Miranda Centennial

Daniella Thompson reminds us that 2009 - the Ano Villa-Lobos - is also Carmen Miranda's Centennial year. The actual date is Monday, February 9. It's interesting that her father José Maria Pinto Cunha was born in 1887 - the same year as Villa-Lobos.

So maybe Villa looked at Carmen Miranda as a daughter; certainly his admiration for her was boundless:

"Carmen Miranda carried her country in her luggage, and taught people who had no idea of our existence to adore our music and our rhythm. Brazil will always have an unpayable debt to Carmen Miranda."

- Villa Lobos, quoted in "Carmen Miranda: The High Price of Fame & Bananas," in Latina Legacies: Identity, Biography, and Community, Vicki L. Ruiz, p. 193.

Lots of websites out there about Carmen Miranda, but your best bet is to pop a DVD in the player, and enjoy!

OSB in 2009

The Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira website now has the 2009 Season up, and it's clear that Music Director Roberto Minczuk (above) is taking the Ano Villa-Lobos very seriously. There are a couple of very important concerts to highlight, with works very rarely performed.

Gênesis is the featured work at three concerts from April 3, 4, and 5, and Amazonas is on the bill on the 22nd and 23rd of May. Other Villa-Lobos works this year include BB#8 and Momoprecoce with pianist Jose Feghali.

There's more information at the really excellent OSB website.

Villa-Lobos Documentary footage

This is really amazing - 10 minutes from a documentary on Villa-Lobos, with some great footage of Villa-Lobos home movies. Even though I can't understand the bulk of what's being said, it's nice to see Villa on video with Mindinha and other friends. Villa is as charming and self-confident as one imagined - I don't think I've ever seen someone as comfortable with himself and his world.

Nice also to see the late Anna Stella Schic, and Walter Burle Marx, Marlos Nobre, Turibio Santos, and Cesar Guerra Peixa. Also, it's great to see and hear Pixinguinha's choroes play "Cardinhoso".

Valentine's Day Guitar at Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves

O vinho é coisa santa
Que nasce da cepa torta
A uns faz perder o tino
A outros errar a porta

Quando o vinho desce
As palavras sobem

As a former wine professional, I'm always on the look-out for a wine connection with Villa-Lobos. Here's one, and a romantic one at that: a Valentine's Day guitar concert with Eric Symons at the Gloria Ferrer Champagne Cellars in Sonoma.

[Don't miss Eric's comment, below.]

The Portuguese toast above is a traditional one. Here's the translation:

Wine is a holy thing
Born from the crooked grapevine
It makes some lose their mind
It makes others miss their door

When wine goes down
Words climb up

Words and music... Thanks to this cool exchange on the Wordreference forum for this.

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM: February 2009

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. Check out the live concert from the OSESP on the 14th.

February 7, 2009
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Choros de Heitor VILLA-LOBOS.

February 12, 2009
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi:
Percy GRAINGER - Jutish Medley. Marc-André Hamelin (piano). / Benjamin GODARD - Sonata para violoncelo e piano em ré menor Op.104. Mats Lidström (violoncelo). Bengt Forsberg (piano). / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Choros n°1: Roland Dyens (violão). Ensemble Instrumental Jean-Walter Audoli. Reg.: Jean-Walter Audoli. / Johann Heinrich SCHMELZER - Sonata unarum fidium IV. Romanesca.

February 14, 2009
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Choros de Heitor VILLA-LOBOS.

February 19, 2009
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi:
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Três Cirandas. Pro Arte Guitar Trio. / Johann Sebastian BACH - Sonata n°5 em Fá menor BWV 1018. Péter Csaba (violino). Zoltán Kocsis (piano). / Robert SCHUMANN - Concerto para violino e orquestra em lá menor Op.129. Christophe Coin (violoncelo). Orquestra de Champs Elysées. Reg,: Philippe Herreweghe.

February 21, 2009
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Choros de Heitor VILLA-LOBOS.

February 25, 2009
15:00 TARDE CULTURA - Música e Notícia com Sérgio Roberto Ribeiro:
Entre outras obras, de Heitor VILLA LOBOS, Bachianas n.6 com Antonio Carrasqueira (flauta), Aloísio Fagerlande (fagote), de Nino ROTA, Concerto para Cordas. I Musici e de Francesco GEMINIANI, Concerto Grosso em sol menor, op. 3 n° 2. Academia de Música Antiga de Cambridge. Dir.: Christopher Hogwood.

February 28, 2009
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Choros de Heitor VILLA-LOBOS.

More from Osesp

I updated the last of my recent posts on the departure of John Neschling from the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (Osesp) with a new Comment, but there's enough meat in the new story to justify another post.

This story from Veja São Paulo lets us know that Yan Pascal Tortelier has replaced Neschling at the head of the orchestra (as both conductor and music director). The story talks about Tortelier's very strong resume, leading the BBC Philharmonic and as principle guest conductor in Pittsburgh.

But there are also less positive comments, including this from Le Monde's Alain Lompech:

"Neschling fez reviver obras essenciais do patrimônio musical brasileiro.... Tortelier não tem esse conhecimento, e, neste momento cultural do país, dar continuidade ao trabalho de memória é crucial."

Google-translated, that's

"Neschling was essential to revive works Brazilian musical heritage.... Tortelier has no such knowledge, and now the country's cultural, continuing the work of memory is crucial."

On the other hand, there have been very positive comments about Tortelier - including from Osesp musicians, who complained of bad treatment from Neschling. I've seen lots of stories like this about bad feelings after a conductor leaves (or a hockey player is traded), and they all seem to follow a similar pattern.

This entire controversy is probably more about live concerts in Brazil than about recordings. There is no question that Neschlings' recent recordings with Osesp for BIS are absolutely first-rate: easily the best Choros series. So it's a bit disappointing to see that

"Duas gravações de CDs de Neschling à frente da Osesp marcadas para este mês com a gravadora sueca Bis foram adiadas e ainda não têm data para acontecer." - ("Two CDs of recordings of Neschling ahead of Osesp scheduled for this month with the Swedish label Bis were postponed and not have time to happen.")

I'm not sure if that means that upcoming recordings for BIS were cancelled, or if the upcoming release of previously recorded discs was postponed. I'm hoping for the latter. There are plenty of under-recorded orchestral gems out there that need the full BIS-Neschling-Osesp treatment.

News about Villa-Lobos Scores

This story in the Brazilian magazine Concerto by Ricardo Tacuchian (the composer who is also the current president of the Academia Brasileira de Música) came to my attention thanks to my friend Wellington Müller Bujokas:

http://www.concerto.com.br/contraponto.asp?id=148

Here is Wellington's translation:

“The Brazilian Academy of Music (ABM) has conquered, in 2008, a great victory for the national culture. Many of Villa-Lobos’ works were attached to publishing contracts with Max Eschig. Some of these editions presented mistakes or were hired in bad-quality handwritten copies. This fact discouraged some artists and orchestras to program the master’s works. Furthermore, the Brazilian performer, in order to program Villa-Lobos’ music, depended on the hire charged by the foreign publisher which had no interest in doing new editions. Through its copyright bureau, ABM has gotten an agreement with the French publisher, benefiting both parts.

"ABM will offer, gratuitously to the publisher, new editions revised by the greatest authorities and specialist in the composer’s work. Due to their musicological rigor and graphical quality, these editions will substitute the old ones. On the other hand, ABM will acquire performance rights for the whole Latin America.

"This agreement, currently, covers a partial number of Villa-Lobos’ works, but it will be expanded in so far as we rise resources to edit all the pieces that were contracted by the author during his life. This way, we will encourage the diffusion of Villa-Lobos’ work, collecting 100% of copyrights of performances in the Latin America and reducing the cost of purchase and hire in Brazil. As if it was not enough, we will get back for our nation an invaluable spiritual heritage. We hope we will be able, in the next year, to inform that new pieces of the carioca composer will be in this program of recovering of our cultural inheritance, including also
the American publishing houses that own the referred copyright. We are currently working for this.

"We must emphasize that, independently of the project above, ABM’s Bank of Scores keeps its project of editing all the works by Villa-Lobos that were not yielded to commercial publishers. This is the case of the Forest of Amazon, whose copyright for the whole world belongs integrally to ABM and that is turning out to be a champion of live performances and recordings.”

Thanks, Wellington, for your work on this. We've heard rumours of this coming, but it seems to be a more comprehensive project than I had thought.

The copyright situation is complicated by the fact that in 2010, the music of Villa-Lobos goes into the public domain in those countries (Canada being one; Portugal is another) who use the death +50 years rule. There is lots more on music copyright issues at the Internet Music Score Library Project.

Anna Stella Schic

Sad news from France: the pianist and scholar Anna Stella Schic has died in Paris at the age of 83. Schic, who was a close friend of Villa-Lobos and Mindinha during their stay in Paris in the 1950s, leaves two important Villa-Lobos projects. The first is her book Villa-Lobos: Souvenirs d'un Indien blanc, and the second is her landmark recording of the complete piano music of Villa-Lobos.