Camerata Atlântica play Bachianas Brasileiras no. 9

Usually when string players are arranged on a stage in a semi-circle to play Villa-Lobos, it's for Bachianas Brasileiras #1 for 8 cellos, or #5 for cellos and soprano. Here are string players of the Camerata Atlântica playing the 9th Bachianas, two to a part with one double bass, and they sound great.

The latest CD in the Villa-Lobos Symphony series: no. 10

The new CD in the Naxos Villa-Lobos Symphonies series with OSESP under Isaac Karabtchevsky is finally here, and it should be a doozy.

The 10th Symphony is the biggest in the series, complete with some good bits as well as some of Villa's less fortunate tendencies. This will be a test of Karabtchevsky's vision and his control over the very good musicians of the Sao Paulo Symphony and Choir, and the two important male singers. We'll also see the results of the new edition of the work, prepared by an editorial team which includes Isaac Karabtchevsky, published by Criadores do Brasil. Maybe this clean-up of the notoriously sloppy scores will result in a tighter, more lucid whole that might bring to mind something more like Beethoven's Ninth or one of Mahler's Symphonies, and less like a pastiche from a Hollywood B-movie. Pre-order now at Amazon.

New Guitar concerto CD

When Villa-Lobos added a cadenza to the Fantasia Concerto he wrote for Segovia, he changed the name to Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra. The orchestral writing is 'thinly scored' to allow an un-amplified guitar to be heard, but Mme. Segovia still insisted that she couldn't hear her husband during the rehearsals for the premiere. Villa-Lobos conducted, going from p to pp to ppp, I'm sure with his mouth firmly closed all the time.

This picture, from the Museu Villa-Lobos, is included in the excellent liner notes to the equally excellent new Stein-Erik Olsen CD Havana Rio Moscow, with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Terje Mikkelsen. Incidentally, the album just showed up today at The Naxos Music Library.

O Piano e a Criança

 

I came across this in Google Books: a 2011 publication by Irmãos Vitale. The pieces included, all written for children, are:

• Brinquedo de roda
• Petizada
• Primeira suíte infantil
• Segunda suíte infantil
• Histórias da carochinha
• Cirandinhas  

There's more information on the publisher's site.