Bachianas Brasileiras #3 in Barcelona

The Third Bachianas Brasileiras is, after the 8th, the least-performed of the 9 works in Villa-Lobos's most popular series. It's a big, sprawling piano concerto, and it deserves to be played more often. Alexandre Tharaud and L'Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona under conductor Hernández Silva will perform the work three times in early May.

Here are the latest numbers for performances in the Villa-Lobos Concert Database (2001-2013):

• Bachianas Brasileiras #1 (89)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #2 (142)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #3 (27)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #4 (236)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #5 (377)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #6 (82)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #7 (33)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #8 (22)
• Bachianas Brasileiras #9 (103)

Leonard Bernstein's The Latin American Spirit

 

Part of the script for Leonard Bernstein's The Latin American Spirit, one of his famous Young People's Concerts broadcast on CBS Television. The full script is here. and the original marked-up scripts can be found at the Library of Congress website.

Uirapuru from Madrid

From Madrid, a performance of Villa's first great orchestral work, Uirapuru. This is from a November 2012 concert. Carlos Kalmar conducts the Orquesta Sinfonica de RTVE.

Carlé Costa concert in Lucerne

Carlé Costa plays the 12 Etudes at a concert in Lucerne in June. I highly recommend his recent Villa-Lobos CD Alma de uma terra.