Obscure Villa on Antena 2

I've posted before on the great Villa-Lobos radio series by Gilda Oswaldo Cruz on Portugal's Antena 2 radio. There's more information here, on the Villa-Lobos Website. There are now 10 one-hour programs in wma format that you can listen to using your handy Windows Music Player. They're great to listen to, even if you have no Portuguese.

There are some extremely rare works included in these programs. A couple of the highlights:

• Mandu-Çarará, a cantata from 1940. This is close to the top of my list of works I'd like to see on CD.
• Nonetto. This is from the Gil Jardem CD/DVD I've posted about already.

I also read recently (in a blog posting I've misplaced) that the series will be re-broadcast on Radio MEC in Brazil. When I track this information down I'll post it here.

Marsalis Brasilianos

I'm going to re-post this, since there have been a couple of concerts added to the list. Thanks for the input, all - please feel free to comment on any of these posts! [In the past few days I've added the UConn and Newport News concerts. Talk about a punishing schedule!]

There's an exciting series of Villa-Lobos concerts coming in the fall of 2008 to concert halls across the U.S. According to the tour publicity,

Marsalis Brasilianos is a celebration of the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos, featuring Branford Marsalis and members of the Philarmonia Brasilera (Gil Jardim, Conductor). This fascinating new project commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the revered Brazilian composers death.

Bringing together Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis with a Brazilian orchestra known for it's remarkable work with Villa-Lobos' music, the program is uniquely suited to Marsalis' mastery of both jazz and classical music, allowing the language of Villa-Lovos' compositions to truly shine.

Featured in the tour are three Villa-Lobos works: the Fantasia for Solo Saxophone, the (2nd) Suite for Strings, and Bachianas Brasileiras #5 (which I assume will feature Marsalis on soprano saxophone as the soloist). The project also includes two works by Darius Mihaud: La Creation du Monde, and Scaramouche.

Marsalis's official website doesn't feature this project yet, but I've been coming across information about individual concerts on the web. UPDATE: go here for the latest info on the tour.

Here's what I've found so far: an updated list:

October 2 - Eugene OR
October 3 - Seattle WA
October 5 - Stanford CA
October 6 - Modesto CA
October 8 - San Bernardino CA
October 9 - San Luis Obispo CA
October 10 - Los Angeles CA
October 11 - Orange County CA
October 13 - Santa Fe NM
October 14 - Albuquerque NM
October 16 - Lufkin TX
October 18 - Fayetteville AR
October 19 - Overland Park KS
October 20 - Conway AR
October 22 - Milwaukee WI
October 23 - Detroit MI
October 24 - Wheaton IL
October 25 - Minneapolis MN
October 26 - Winona MN
October 28 - Storrs CT
October 30 - Ithaca NY
November 1 - Bronx NY
November 2 - Stony Brook NY
November 5 - Newport News VA
November 6 - Durham NC
November 7 - Rockville MD
November 9 - Birmingham AL

By the way, the actual 50th anniversary of the death of Villa-Lobos is November 17, 2009.

Marsalis's arrangement of BB#5 for soprano saxophone is now a classic. One of the most successful of many, many similar projects, it's included in his album Romances for Saxophone. You can buy the CD:

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM: June 2008

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 is on June 28 (my birthday), when the featured work on the excellent Ciranda programme is Gil Jardim's new recording of the Nonetto.

June 10, 2008:
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações:
Luigi NONO - Fragmentos. Silencio. A Diotima para quarteto de cordas. Quarteto La Salle. Walter Levin (violino). Henry Meyer (violino). Peter Kamnitzer(viola). Lee Fiser(viloncelo). / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS. Choros N°10. Orquestra Sinfonia da Venezuela. Dir. Simon Bolívar.

June 16, 2008:
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi:
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART - "Allegro" do Concerto para violino n° 3 em sol maior, K 216. Frank Peter Zimmermann (violino). Orquestra Filarmônica de Berlim. Reg.: Wolfgang Sawallisch. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - "Tímido - poco andante" da Suíte para cordas. I Musici. Reg.: Yuli Turovsky. / Frédéric CHOPIN - Noturno em si bemol menor Op. 9 n° 1. Yundi Li (piano). / Edvard GRIEG - Abertura No Outono Op. 11. Orquestra Sinfônica Iceland. Reg.: Petri Sakari.


20:00 AS MIL e UMA INTERPRETAÇÕES com Turíbio Santos:
Edvard GRIEG. Suite Holberg. Heitor VILLA-LOBOS. Bachianas número 3. Orquestra de Câmara Banespa. Claudio Cruz (Spala)

June 21, 2008:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
CARLOS GOMES - Condor. Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira. Dir.: Yeruham Scharovsky. Francisco BRAGA - Trio. Trio Brasileiro./ VILLA-LOBOS - Bachianas Brasileiras no. 4. Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo.OSESP. Dir.: John Neschling.


June 28, 2008:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Camargo GUARNIERI - Suite Vila Rica. Orquestra Sinfónica do Estado de São Paulo. OSESP. Dir.: John Neschling. / VILLA-LOBOS - Noneto. Toninho Carrasqueira (flauta). Luís CArlos Justi (oboé). Sérgio Burgani (clarinete). Aloysio Fagerlande (fagote). Dílson Florêncio (saxofone). Maria Elisa Risardo (celesta). Paulo Braga (piano). Elizabeth Del Grande (tímpanos). Ricardo Bologna e Eduardo Gianesella (percussão). Coro Misto. Dir.: Gil Jardim. André / MEHMARI - Sete Miniaturas. Quinteto de Sopros Villa-Lobos.