New VL CD release

New this month from Meridian Records in the UK:


O Violoncello do Villa
Complete works for violin, cello and piano
Vol 3

This disc features Villa's Piano Trios 2 and 3, played by Trio Villa-Lobos. The group is made up of Richard Milone, violin; Miriam Braga, piano; and Tânia Lisboa, cello. Braga and Lisboa have formerly teamed up on the Meridian release CDE 84357 O Violoncello do Villa Vol. 1, and were joined by violinist Yang Zhang in CDE 84391 O Violoncello do Villa Vol. 2.

While the piano trios are early works (the second was written in 1915 and the third in 1918), I've always enjoyed listening to them. Don't expect chamber music at the level of VL's string quartet cycle, or the chamber choros written in the 1920s. And don't expect the vitality of the great orchestral works written before the end of the teens (Amazonas or Uirapuru, both written in 1917, for example). In the piano trios Villa was relaxing and enjoying himself, perhaps since he only had the three instruments to keep track of. This is very mellow music.

Meridian is serving Villa-Lobos well. Besides the above three discs there is an excellent piano disc, DUOCD 89017, with Clélia Iruzun, containing three major works: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4, Prole Do Bebe No. 1, and Choros No. 5. As well, there's another recent new release, CDE 84454, Tangos & Choros: Flute Music from Argentina and Brazil, that features Bachianas Brasileiras #6, and #5 in an arrangement for flute and guitar.

Washington DC Screening of Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida de Paixao

The Brazilian-American Cultural Institute in Washington DC will be screening the 2000 film Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida de Paixao by Director Zelito Viana, on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 at 7 p.m. at BACI, 4719 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.

It's nice to hear the music of Villa-Lobos (the aria from Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5) when you visit the Institute's home page. Thanks to Wayne Landsman for the tip on this. I haven't yet heard about North American or European distribution of VHS of DVD for this film, but I'm hoping the English subtitles for the Washington screening indicates that something is coming soon.

Nashville Symphony Bachianas Brasileiras

In the spring the Nashville Symphony will begin their recording sessions of the nine Bachianas Brasileiras. This query recently arrived from Wilson Ochoa, music librarian of the Nashville Symphony:

"We are performing and recording all 9 of the "Bachianas Brasileiras" in March, and I have been busy proofreading the parts to make sure we record these with no errors.

"I have some questions about the printed music conductor scores, and was wondering if you can shed some light on some problems I have encountered.

"In "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2":

"In the third movement "Dansa": The Violin 2 is marked pizzicato at the beginning. Could this be a mistake? It is unplayable that way (too fast to be able to play it pizzicato), and should be arco to match the violas? (It is arco at rehearsal 15 when the same music returns.) The recordings I have play it arco.

"In the same movement, in the seventh measure, the Violin I is in octaves on the first beat of the measure, should they be in octaves on beat 2? Currently I have the upper part playing E, E, D (above the staff), and the lower part playing C, C, B (in the staff--and this would seem to clash with Violin 2, although Villa Lobos does do this sometimes).

"In the same movement, in the fifth measure after rehearsal 2, should Violin I be pizzicato (as at the beginning of the movement?) Also, the fifth measure of rehearsal 17, should that be pizzicato as well? In the same piece, last movement "Tocata", there is no marking as to when the Violins remove their mutes. Would that occur at rehearsal 3?

"In "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 8":

"In the second movement "Aria": after rehearsal 3, the third and the fifth measure, the strings and horns have a musical figure that sometimes has marked a glissando between beats 3 and 4. In the third measure, the strings have the glissando, and the horns do not. But in the fifth measure the horns have the glissando, but the strings do not. Then, at rehearsal 4, third measure, the strings have this and the horns do not. Should these all match? Should there be a glissando every time? Or is it correct the way it is printed? In the same movement, rehearsal 3, fourth measure, the strings have beat 3 slurred together, but the horns do not. Should these match? Is there a slur?

"Thanks for your help with this.

"Wilson Ochoa, Principal Music Librarian, Nashville Symphony" - wilson@nashvillesymphony.org

I'm hoping some of the readers of The Villa-Lobos Magazine might be able to help Wilson with these questions. If you're in Nashville this March, you'll be able to attend the concerts of all nine Bachianas. I'm not sure if live recordings will be made from the concerts given this March, or if the concerts will be preparations for studio recordings. In any case, you can get all the information from the Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts page, and at the website of the Nashville Symphony.

Symphony no. 10 on Harmonia Mundi

I'm back after a long break. Hope you're all still out there...

The BBC's Classical Review website is featuring the new CD from Harmonia Mundi of Symphony no. 10 'Amerindia', with the Orquesta Sinfonica De Tenerife conducted by Victor Pablo Perez.


The new Harmonia Mundi Cd of Symphony 10

After only a couple of VL symphony recordings until just before the turn of the millennium, we can now choose between labels, orchestras and conductors for more than a few of the eleven symphonies. The BBC review by Andrew MacGregor notes that there are three recordings of no. 10, one of which has not been released. This would be a key disc in the soon-to-be-completed Carl St. Clair Stuttgart project of the complete symphonies. Recently Bert Berenschot let me know about the latest release in that series: Symphony no. 7 and Sinfonietta no. 1.

CPO's new CD of Symphony 7

The first recording of no. 10 was of course the Koch International Classics recording by Gisele Ben-Dor and the Santa Barbara Symphony. This disc has been a favourite of mine since it was released in 2000.

Koch's Symphony no. 10 with Gisele Ben-Dor

The BBC page has short RealAudio clips from the first and fifth movements of the Tenerife CD that give you an idea of the kind of music to expect, if not the sound quality. I'm looking forward to listening to the new disc more closely.

Here, by the way, is Bert Berenshot's posting to rec.music.classical.recordings on the new cpo disc:

"Finally CPO released another cd in the Villa-Lobos cycle of 12 symphonies, conducted by Carl St. Clair. This time we get Symphony no.7 combined with the Sinfonietta no.1 (1916). The complexity of Symphony no. 7 dates almost audible from 1945, the same year Villa-Lobos wrote his most complex Piano Concerto (no. 1) and his most complex String Quartet (no. 9). All pieces contain more dissonant and even atonal sections he didn't write any more after 1930. Surely he did write them in the period 1917-1930 in pieces like Amazonas, Choros no. 8 and 11, the Trio and some others, but in a different way, more influenced by the 'primitivism' of those days. Symphony no. 7 is with 36 minutes longer than most of his symphonies and is a impressive piece starting with those orchestral glissandi we already know from the opening of Uirapuru and Symphony no. 11 and somewhere at the end of Genesis.

"It is combined with the early Sinfonietta no. 1 of 1916 which is much lighter and more transparant, composed for a Mozart-size orchestra and written in memoriam Mozart. It runs 23 minutes and is nice but still less typical Villa-Lobos.
So, now we still have to wait for the CPO release of no. 2 (a long piece of one hour, only recorded in the '40's by the Jansen Symphony of Los Angeles) and the choral 10th (Amerindia), already two times recorded by others the last years.

"See http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/hnum/1561100/rk/classic/rsk/notepad for information and sound samples. Until February 15th they sell it cheaper. I suppose it takes some weeks before it will be available elsewhere.

"Bert B."

Thanks for this, Bert - as usual you're on the leading edge of the Villa-Lobos recording world.

Villa-Lobos on Letterman

Try to catch The Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday night, October 7th. Dave's guest is the great soprano Renee Fleming. Word is that we'll hear her sing Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5. This from industry insider Lee Boyd, who emails me this additional information, which she heard on WQXR:

"Renee Fleming will be doing probably just the Aria, with the cellists organized by Edward Aron, who is an award-winning cellist from our very own town of New Castle, only he is from the Chappaqua side of the tracks. Aron also does some programming with the station, so he told them about his performance, which incidentally includes VL and Renee."

So make sure you catch tonight's program (and you'll also get to see Uma Thurman doing her Kill Bill promotion).

Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts

Since 1997 I've been keeping track of Villa-Lobos concerts around the world, that I've heard about from performers or presenters, or that I've come across on the web. You can find the Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts page at http://www.rdpl.org/villa/concerts.html. I've recently reorganized them by month in a convenient calendar format. Here, for example, is the page for September 2003, which includes concerts from Rio de Janeiro, Brooklyn, Teresopolis, Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo, London and Delaware & Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Besides letting people know about concerts they may wish to attend, these pages now play another role: to document Villa-Lobos concerts from around the world over the past six years. I've analyzed the concerts by work, and will be keeping this information up-to-date in a spreadsheet linked to at the page above. It's also available in this cool new format from Macromedia called FlashPaper - here's the link: http://www.rdpl.org/villa/concerts/ConcertsSpreadsheet.htm.

Please let me know about any Villa-Lobos performances coming up in your neck of the woods.

ASV Choros Series

One of the major works by Villa-Lobos that isn't available on CD is the sixth Choros, a fun orchestral work that really swings. Thanks to a brand new CD on the ASV label, we'll all have a chance to hear it. Other under-recorded pieces included on this disc are the Introduction aux Choros for guitar and orchestra and the Choros no. 7 for chamber ensemble.

What's even more exciting about this release is that it's billed as the first in a new series of the Villa-Lobos Choros. It's great to see ASV paying some attention to the orchestral music of Villa-Lobos (their excellent series of piano music with Alma Petchersky continues with a well-chosen recital in the series' third volume). The orchestra featured is the Orquesta Filharmonica de Gran Canaria, under the direction of Adrian Leaper. I see by the Upcoming Concerts and Archived Concerts pages of the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website that Leaper conducted the following Villa-Lobos works in the Canary Islands: Choros 10 in March of 2003, Uirapuru in September of 2002, and Bachianas Brasileiras no. 2 in February 2001. That may indicate that other orchestral Villa-Lobos may be on its way. I'm anxious to hear this new release (to be shipped by Amazon.com later this week), and the upcoming releases from ASV.

Can't wait to hear Choros 6? Listen in to Cultura FM from Sao Paulo this Monday, August 25, at 11:00 a.m., Sao Paulo time (9 a.m. EDT), and you can hear it played by the Orquestra Petrobras Pro-Musica, conducted by Roberto Tibirica - listen here on the Internet.

Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira Website

The website of Rio de Janeiro's OSB, or the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, as it's also known, is very fine. There's useful information on upcoming programs - for example, this October 18, 2003 concert:

18 October
Norton Morozowicz, conductor
Miguel Proença, piano

Villa-Lobos, Preludio da Bachianas Brasileiras no. 4; Saudades das Selvas Brasileiras, no. 1 & 2; Seis Cirandas (Theresinha de Jesus – A Condessa – Senhora Dona Sancha – O Cravo Brigou com a Rosa – Passa, Passa Gaviao); Valsa da Dor; Hommage à Chopin
Prokofiev, Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, in D-flat Major, op. 10
Bartok, Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra

There's also plenty of historical information, including this picture from 1958:




Villa-Lobos' last concert with the BSO and Sônia Maria Strutt acknowledging the ovation to the execution of the Maestro's "Momo Precoce", on August 24, 1958

All in all a fine site. I even have one of the computer wallpapers decorating my Windows desktop.

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM - June 2003

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.

On Sunday, June 8 at 12:00 noon - on the program Acervo Cultura, the first program in the series "Os Choros de Villa-Lobos." Following at 1:00 p.m. is a program of music by the great Brazilian pianist Nelson Freiere. Recently I've been enjoying listening to Freiere's performance of Rudepoema.

The next day, June 9 at 4:00 a.m., you can hear the Quarteto Amazônia perform the 7th String Quartet. Later, at 10:00 a.m., you can hear the same ensemble in Quartet 11. Better yet, buy the whole set of quartets from Kuarup.

June 12 at 11:00 is the second program in the series "Os Choros de Villa-Lobos."

On June 16 at 11:00, pianist Nahim Marun and violinist Claudio Cruz perform Sonata Fantasia n° 2.

June 18 at 11:00 is the third program in the "Os Choros de Villa-Lobos" series.

On June 23 at 11:00 you can hear an important work by Camargo Guarnieri, the greatest composer of the generation following Villa-Lobos: his 3rd Symphony, performed by the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, conducted by Johh Neschling.

June 25 at 11:00 is the fourth "Os Choros de Villa-Lobos" program.

Red Deer - a Cultural Capital of Canada

This post isn't directly related to the life and works of Heitor Villa-Lobos, though after eight years of publishing the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website at Red Deer Public Library, there is a strong link between the great Brazilian composer and the city of Red Deer (pop. 70,000), which is halfway between the larger Alberta cities of Edmonton and Calgary.

Last week, Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps unveiled the names of the five Cultural Capitals of Canada for 2003, at a news conference in Vancouver. The five cities chosen are: Caraquet (New Brunswick), Red Deer (Alberta), Rivière-du-Loup (Quebec), Thunder Bay (Ontario) and Vancouver (British Columbia). There's more on this announcement at the Canadian Heritage site, and at the City of Red Deer site.

The key to Red Deer's success in the world of culture lies in the city's Community Culture Masterplan, and the long-standing grass-roots partnerships that underlie it. This intensely collaborative environment makes it so much easier for people and organizations to make important, lasting, sustainable cultural statements within a community and around the world. As someone who has the privilege of working in such an environment, I'm proud to celebrate this important national recognition of a great community.

Max Eschig Website

Most of Villa-Lobos's major works were published by Editions Max Eschig in Paris. Eschig finally has a website up [http://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/english/homepage.html], and a very good one, with complete catalogues, lists of agents for sales and rental around the world, and some historical background.

Max Eschig is the most important person from the music publishing industry in the life of Villa-Lobos. It was Eschig more than anyone who helped make Villa's name in the wider world.

Max Eschig (1872-1927)

Tracking usage at the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website

While I haven't had time yet to properly set this up, I have been tracking some usage at the Villa-Lobos Website (http://www.rdpl.org), using Sitemeter. Here are a couple of interesting graphs provided by this useful service; first is the Visitor Time Zone graph:

You'll see that people from around the world are visiting the site, with the largest numbers coming from the Central European, Brazilian and Eastern and Western North American Time Zones. The Organization Tracking graph adds detail:

Here you'll see Brazil, France, Belgium, the UK, Austria, Japan and Italy at the top of the country list (I expect most US and Canadian visitors come from the .net, .com and .edu domains).

These results show the widespread interest in Villa-Lobos - his appeal is international!

Andre Kostelanetz plays music of Villa-Lobos

In 1974 Columbia (CBS) records released an LP of music performed by the great master of light music, Andre Kostelanetz. All of the pieces were by Villa-Lobos, some in arrangements by Kostelanetz. The LP (M 32821, CBS 61564) shows up in many lists of favourite "easy-listening" classics on the Internet. The highlight for me is the Suite from Magdalena (Villa-Lobos's operetta/Broadway musical of 1948). For more information on the original work, see Ricardo Prado's excellent essay, in Lee Boyd's excellent translation.

Kostelanetz's version of the work points up the full-blown kitschy charm of Villa's music - this is definitely the master letting his hair down! Not profound music, but definitely fun. As Prado says, Villa-Lobos "re-fashioned" many of his favourite melodies - some famous and some lifted from obscure works of his past.

The Kostelanetz LP hasn't been reissued on CD (though I think it would sell well, judging by the recent mini-boom in Villa-Lobos recordings), so you'll need to search it out in libraries (the University of Alberta has a copy) or used-disc stores and websites. The only CD of the complete musical, which Prado praises highly, is hard to come by - I had an order in at amazon.com forever, and it was finally cancelled.



The Teatro Amazonas, a great opera house in the tropical rain-forest.

Your best bet for hearing this music: go to the VII FESTIVAL AMAZONAS DE ÓPERA at the great tropical opera house in Manaus. Magdalena will be performed on the 26th and 29th of April and the 1st of May, with Ligia Amadio conducting the Amazonas Filarmônica, the Coral do Amazonas, the Corpo de Dança do Amazonas and a Coral Infantil. A last minute trip to Brazil would be nice...

Thanks to Bert Berenschot for providing this amazingly entertaining music.

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM - April 2003

It's a tradition at The Villa-Lobos Magazine for me to list interesting Villa-Lobos pieces coming up on Sao Paulo's Cultural FM. For the month of April I'm highlighting only one program - there are many other performances of works by Villa-Lobos, but most are easily available on CD. So here's the April listing - listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EST.

On April 28 at 11:00 a.m., the rarely heard Ciranda das sete notas for bassoon and strings is performed by the great bassoonist Noel Devos, with the Orquestra de Câmara Brasileira conducted by Bernardo Bessler. The same program includes works by Brazilian composers of a new generation: Blauth (b. 1931), Nobre (b. 1939) and Lacerda (b.1927).

Speaking of Brenno Blauth, you can listen to a movement from his Concertino para oboe y cuerdas performed by Argentina's Camerata Bariloche, with oboist Andres Spiller. There are many other pieces by Latin American composers on the same page - check out this excellent site.

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM - March

Here are radio programs of interest from Sao Paulo's Cutural FM for March - listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EST.

At 11:00 on March 18, the Quatuor, 'Impressões da vida mundana' is performed by the Lontano Ensemble and the BBC Singers, under the direction of Odaline de la Martinez. This is from the 2002 Lorelt CD, which seems to be only available at the UK Amazon site.

At 11:00 on March 27, Eleazar de Carvalho conducts the Orquestra Sinfônica da Paraíba in Uirapurú.

At 15:00 on March 31st you can hear parts of a concert of music by Villa-Lobos and Hekel Tavares at the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, with the Orquestra Sinfônica Petrobras Pró Música conducted by Roberto Tibiriça. The pianist is Arnaldo Cohen (piano).

Villa-Lobos in the Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia.

I've recently added a fairly comprehensive article on Villa-Lobos. I will be keeping an eye on the article, and hope to see readers of The Villa-Lobos Magazine and the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website make their own contributions to the main article or any related topics.

I hope that the Villa-Lobos community will be able to provide information on Villa-Lobos and Brazilian classical music to Wikipedia in other languges, especially Portuguese.

José Vieira Brandão

October, 2002 saw the death of an important figure in the life of Villa-Lobos and in the musical life of Brazil. Thanks to Martin Anderson for giving me permission to re-print his obituary of José Vieira Brandão. The article appeared first in The Independent on October 18, 2002. The picture is from the Museu Villa-Lobos (Brandão in on the far left).

José Vieira Brandão
Brazilian composer and pianist
18 October 2002

José Vieira Brandão, composer, pianist, conductor and teacher: born Cambuquira, Brazil 26 September 1911; married Eunice Costa Pereira (four sons, one daughter); died Rio de Janeiro 27 July 2002.
It's a tough life being a composer in a country where a single towering figure epitomises its music both at home and abroad. Even now, Finnish composers still feel Sibelius looming over them (indeed, the late Einar Englund called his 1996 autobiography I skuggan av Sibelius – "In the Shadow of Sibelius"). For Brazilian musicians it is Heitor Villa-Lobos who hogs the limelight. But for José Vieira Brandão Villa-Lobos' pre-eminence presented an opportunity rather than a threat, and he became one of his closest musical companions.

Brandão's musical ability was evident in childhood, and at eight he moved south from Minas Gerais to Rio de Janeiro to continue his musical education, first studying piano privately and then at the Instituto Nacional de Música, graduating with a gold medal in 1929; three years later he was awarded the diploma of the Conservatório Nacional de Canto Orfeônico, and choral conducting was to become the other mainstay of his life as a practising musician.

His ability as a pianist was impressive enough for the French pianist Marguerite Long, on a visit to Brazil, to ask him to come to France to study with her, and he accepted. But it was not to be, as he later explained in an interview:

At that time I had met Villa-Lobos, when he started to introduce his ideas in musical education into the public schools in Brazil. My trip to France was already scheduled but I decided to stay here and work in his project.

His collaboration with Villa-Lobos was an almost permanent feature of his early life. As a youth he spent his afternoons at Villa-Lobos' house, playing his mentor's music on the piano, and was to give the premieres of many of his piano compositions; later, in 1942, he was the piano soloist in the first performances of the Chôros No 11 in Rio and the Bachianas Brasileiras No 3 in New York, both conducted by the composer.

He became Villa-Lobos' assistant in 1932, helping him in his ambitious reform programme for music education in Brazilian schools, later pushing the project forward himself. In 1934 he founded the Madrigal Vox do Conservatório Brasileiro de Música and led the group until 1943; in parallel he held positions as an assistant professor of music and then professor of arts, becoming a professor at the Conservatório de Canto Orfeônico in 1943, and remaining there until 1967. He was president of the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música from 1940 until his last years, and one of the founders of the Academia Brasileira de Música in 1945.

Vieira Brandão began to compose at the age of 15, but his composition didn't really pick up speed until after 1940; by the time of his death his catalogue contained some 100 works, written in a national-Romantic style. His choral music, the technique sharpened by years of practical experience, buzzes with Brazilian rhythms and forms an important contribution to the Brazilian choral tradition. Nor did he neglect his own instrument, the piano, and the musicologist and Vieira Brandão scholar Maria Teresa Madeira singles out the 4 Études, the two Serestas (1942) and the Fantasia Concertante for piano and orchestra (1937-59).

Martin Anderson



Thanks, Martin, for that beautiful tribute. It's our opportunity to learn more about this key figure in the Villa-Lobos world.

As I write this, I'm listening to the Brazilian String Quartet play Brandão's Miniatura. This lovely piece is the only work I've heard from what looks to be a significant body of music. It's on an excellent disc I received late last year, on the Albany label from New York. Entitled "Brazilian String Quartet", it includes music by Villa-Lobos and two other composers of the generations after Villa: Radames Gnattali and Cesar Guerra Peixe, performed by one of the premiere chamber ensembles of Brazil. I'm afraid it won't be easy for most of us to hear more of the music of Brandão, though. Amazon.com lists only the piece for String Quartet.

There is an opportunity to hear one of Brandão's chamber works coming up - I happened to mention it yesterday in a post to The Villa-Lobos Magazine. At 11:00 São Paulo time (10 a.m. EST) on February 5th, you can hear his Divertimento for flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet and bassoon on Cultura FM. Listen here on the Internet.

I'll be on the lookout for more of this music, from online vendors in Brazil and around the world. I'll report my findings here.

January on Cultura FM

Happy New Year!

Here are radio programs of interest from Sao Paulo's Cutural FM for January - listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EST.

At 11:00 on January 7, Janos Starker performs the Fantasia for cello & orchestra. Eleazar de Carvalho conducts the Orquestra Sinfônica da Paraíba. This is from the excellent Brazilian Festival '88: A Brazilian Extravaganza CD on the Delos label, still available from Amazon.com.

The following day, again on the Cirandas program at 11:00, you can hear three relatively unfamiliar works from the great Choros series: the epic number 12, along with two witty chamber pieces: number 7 and 4.

At 12:00 on January 12th, the program Acervo Cultura presents "As notas são": "Da música brasileira. Série de 13 programas dedicados à composição erudita do Brasil. Em destaque: A CRIAÇÃO E A CRÍTICA (VILLA-LOBOS E FRANCISCO MIGNONE OS CRIADORES, CARLOS MAUL, E DOIS ANÔNIMOS OS CRÍTICOS). Idealização e apres.: Sérgio Vasconcellos Correa. Apoio de produção: João Antonio Batista. Produção: José Roberto Prazeres - 1990." I'll try listening to this, but I'm not sure if my extremely limited Portuguese will allow me to understand much.

At 11:00 on January 13, you can hear one of the best of Villa's Symphonies, his Sixth. This performance by Carl St. Clair and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart is also one of the best in the excellent cpo series of complete symphonies.

At 15:00 on January 27, the great String Trio is performed by the Ensemble Capriccio, from a 2001 Paulus CD. Also on the programme is a work by a composer I don't know, Amaral Vieira. His Quintet for piano and strings is op. 297, so there's a lot of Vieira out there to listen for in the future. The Villa-Lobos String Trio is repeated at 11:00 on January 30, along with a very interesting group of other works: New York Skyline for piano, the Dança do índio branco and Improviso em homenagem a Villa-Lobos by pianist João Carlos Assis.

Looking ahead to February, there's a short piece I'm looking forward to hearing. It's the Divertimento by the late José Vieira Brandão. Brandão, a close associate of Villa-Lobos and an excellent composer in his own right, performed many premieres of works by Villa-Lobos. He died in October of 2002. The Divertimento is performed by a chamber group of excellent Brazilian players: Andréa Ernest Dias (flute), Luiz Carlos Justi (oboe), José Botelho (clarinet), Philipp Doyle (trumpet) and Noel Devos (bassoon). Listen at 11:00 on February 5th.

On February 28 at 11:00, the rarely performed Introdução ao Choros for guitar and orchestra can be heard. This is from a highly recommended Ondine CD with the Finnish guitarist Timo Korhonen.

Good listening!

Villa-Lobos film in New York

This was quick: news from New York about an upcoming showing of Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida de Paixão, at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway. It's scheduled at 9 p.m., November 23, 2002 - check out the Symphony Space website for more information.

Villa-Lobos film in London

Distribution of the Zelito Vianna film Villa-Lobos: Uma Vida de Paixão has been slow outside of Brazil, where it was released in 2000, and a handful of Film Festivals since then (including Miami and Moscow). Londoners will have a chance to see the film on November 19th, at the Brazilian Embassy's Brazilian Contemporary Arts Cineclub, Room 101, Palingswick House, 241 King Street, London, W6 9LP.

I'm watching the web for any sign of the DVD being released in the rest of the world. I'd appreciate word from any readers of The Villa-Lobos Magazine about any video or DVD releases, or release in theatres outside of Brazil. Unfortunately, the official website from Mapafilm no longer seems to be available.

Those who have seen the film seem to rate it highly: the Internet Movie Database has 45 ratings, with an average of 8.4 out of 10.

[Picture: the movie poster from Mapa Filme - click here for a larger version - 128k]

The London Brazilian Embassy's website is excellent: there's lots of interest from the cultural side. Here's an upcoming concert I found out about from the site, which takes place on November 28, 2002 at Bolívar Hall, the Embassy of Venezuela, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DJ. Nadia Myerscough, violin, and Clélia Iruzun, piano, will play the interesting early Villa-Lobos work, the Sonata-Fantasia No. 1, along with works by Albéniz, Ginastera, de Falla, Prokofiev, Bartok and Marlos Nobre. I've been listening to the works for piano and violin and piano trio recently, and find them absolutely charming. There's more information on the concert here, including this interesting tidbit: Ms. Iruzun will release a CD of Brazilian piano concertos on the Lorelt Label in early 2003.

November on Cultura FM

Here are radio programs of interest from Sao Paulo's Cutural FM - listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EST.

The Quarteto Bessler-Reis has recorded the cycle of Villa-Lobos string quartets on the Kuarup label. You can hear the 12th and 13th at 10:00 on November 8. This is repeated on the 15th at 04:00. Quartets 14 and 17 are performed at 10:00 the 15th, and repeated at 04:00 on the 22nd. The same day at 10:00, the Bessler-Reis group play quartets 4 and 5 (repeated on the 29th at 04:00). On the 29th at 10:00, you can hear quartets 1 and 3.

Every weekday at 11:00, Cultura FM presents "Ciranda: Academia brasileira da música". On November 12, pianist João Carlos Assis Brasil performs New York Skyline and the Dança do índio branco, along with his own "Improviso em homenagem a Villa-Lobos." Later on the same program, the Ensemble Capriccio performs the amazing String Trio.

Benjamin Bunch's New Website

Guitarist Benjamin Bunch promotes his Etcetera CDs on this excellent website. The site includes an MP3 format file of the 2nd Prelude - one of Villa-Lobos' most popular pieces. We look forward to his upcoming disc An Homage to Heitor Villa-Lobos for soprano and guitar.

Note that though Bunch's discs aren't easy to find in North America, you can order them through the German and UK versions of Amazon.

Paul Creston and Villa-Lobos

The American composer Paul Creston lived from 1906 to 1985. The Paul Creston archives are available in the Special Collections Department of the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The picture above is included in the online version of the Paul Creston Collection. It's another picture that demonstrates how much Villa-Lobos got around in the musical world. Some day soon I'll compile a list of all the famous composers, instrumentalists and conductors that were photographed alongside Villa-Lobos.

Villa-Lobos on Radio France's France Musique

France has many connections with Villa-Lobos, from the composer's first visit in the 1920's, to the time he spent in the 1950's, recording with French EMI. France Musique, the classical music radio network of Radio France, can be heard live on the Internet. Here are some upcoming Villa-Lobos performances, all from European recordings that aren't all that easy to come by here in North America:

October 13, 04:46: Bachianas Brasileiras 6 with Norton Morozowicz, flute, and Noël Devos, bassoon. This is from the CD ADDA 590 901. This is repeated at 22:46 on October 15 and October 17 at 10:46.

October 19, 15:48: Tenor Marcel Quillévéré sings the three Cançoes Indigenas (Indigenous Songs) that Villa-Lobos wrote in 1926. He is accompanied by Noël Lee, on piano, in this excerpt from the OPUS 111 CD (OPS 30-65). This is repeated at 03:48 on October 20, 21:48 on October 22 and 09:48 on October 24.

October 22, 11:52: The Fantasie for saxophone, three horns and strings, with Detlef Bensmann, alto saxophone, and the RIAS-Sinfonietta de Berlin, under the direction of David Shallon. From the KOCH CD 311025. Repeated at 17:52 on October 23.

October on Cultura FM

Here are radio programs of interest from Sao Paulo's Cutural FM - listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EDT.

October 1, 2 pm: Prof. Gilberto Tinetti discusses Felicja Blumental's performances of Bachianas Brasileiras no. 3 and Piano Concerto no. 5. This program is repeated at 3 am the following day.

October 2, 11 am: The Rio Cello Ensemble and pianist Wagner Tiso perform Mandu-çarará, which I haven't seen on CD.

October 7, 10 am: From the Brazilian label Funarte, the 1st Sonata-Fantaisie, with Oscar Borgerth, violin, and Ilara Gomes Grosso, piano. This is repeated at 4 a.m. on the 14th. Immediately following at 11:00 on the 7th, the Orquestra Petrobrás Pró-Música and conductor Armando Prazeres perform the 1st Sinfonietta, and Nelson Freire plays the amazing masterwork for the piano: Rudepoema.

October 13, 6 am: From a Brasilian CD on the Brascan Brasil SA label, Antonio Menezes, cello and Ricardo Castro, piano, perform the Pequena Suite. This is repeated at 11:00 on October 14.

October 21 is a day full of great piano performances: at 11 am Marcelo Bratke performs the first Prole de Bebe suite, and at 8:05, Caio Pagano performs Carnaval das crianças and the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th collections from the Guia prático (none of which are easily available on CD). The latter program is repeated at 9 am on the 26th.

October 24, 11 am: a Brazilian ensemble plays the Fantasia concertante for piano, clarinet and bassoon, and the great classical/popular instrumentalist Paulo Moura performs the Fantasia for Saxophone and Orchestra, with the Orquestra de Câmara Brasileira, conducted by Bernardo Bessler.

Villa-Lobos Concerts & CDs Analyzed

I've been tracking performances of Villa-Lobos works at concerts and recitals from around the world since January 1997, in the Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts page of the Villa-Lobos Website. I've recently put together a list of the works played at those concerts. As well, I've looked at the 445 CDs containing works by Villa-Lobos that are currently available at Amazon.com. I'll be posting a spreadsheet with this information on the Website - it's here - and I'll keep it updated as I receive new information.

In the meantime, here are some interesting results. The most commonly performed works:

Bachianas Brasileiras #5 (48)
Harmonica Concerto (20)
Unspecified Pieces for Guitar (20)
Assobio a Jato (19)
Bachianas Brasileiras #2 (17)
Bachianas Brasileiras #1 (12)
Guitar Etudes (12)
Bachianas Brasileiras #6 (8)
Bachianas Brasileiras #9 (8)
Bachianas Brasileiras #4 (7)
Guitar Preludes (7)
Saxophone Fantasia (7)

No real surprises here. The Bachianas Brasileiras series looms large in terms of the popular view of Villa-Lobos. BB#5 is one of the standards of the orchestral repertoire, and in its version for soprano and guitar for that of chamber music. Robert Bonfiglio has nearly single-handedly brought a high level of popularity to the Harmonica Concerto. The works for guitar are probably under-reported by a factor of at least three, since many concert notices do not refer to particular works.

Many of these pieces show up at the top of the CD list as well:

Bachianas Brasileiras #5 (98)
Guitar Preludes (70)
Guitar Etudes (57)
Choros 1 (33)
Suite Popular Bresilienne (32)
Bachianas Brasileiras #2 (22)
Guitar Concerto (22)
Bachianas Brasileiras #4 (20)
Choros #5 (16)
Bachianas Brasileiras #1 (14)
Song Recitals (14)
Ciclo Brasiliera (13)
Prole de Bebe #1 (13)

The guitar music is well represented on CD, with every one of the works Villa-Lobos wrote for the instrument (with the exception of the Introduction to Choros, which has unaccountably received only a single recording) in the top ten most popular works. The best works for piano are well represented as well. It's nice to see a work from the Choros series - Choros #5, subtitled Alma Brasileira - getting as many recordings as some of the Bachianas Brasileiras series.

At the other end, there are a few great works that received no performances (as reported on my page - my collection of this information is very hit and miss). These include most of the Symphonies; four of the Piano Concertos; Choros 8, 9 and 12; and the String Trio. Luckily, the list of works with no recordings in the Amazon.com list (nearly all of which are available throughout the world) is really quite short:

Cello Sonata 1
Choros 4
Choros 6
Daughter of the Clouds
Duas Lendas Amerindias
Fantasia de Movementos Mixtos
Nonetto
Sinfonietta #1
Symphony 2
Symphony 3
Symphony 7
Symphony 9
Vidapura
Yerma

From this short list, we'll soon be able to remove the 3rd and 9th Symphonies, coming soon from cpo. Symphonies 2 and 7 will presumably follow, from the same source, within a year. After that, we badly need recordings of the 6th Choros, the Fantasia de Movementos Mixtos and the Nonetto. As for the other hole in the Choros series, number 4, that's available in the indispensable CD Os Choros de Câmara from the Brazilian company Kuarup. I ordered this CD, and others, from Kuarup's website. Kuarup's CDs are very inexpensive, and the discs arrived amazingly quickly.

I think that, overall, the works of Villa-Lobos are fairly well represented both discographically, and on the concert stages of the world. The complete cycles of string quartets recently performed at the Kuhno Festival in Finland and by the Cuartetto Latinoamericano brought many hidden gems to the surface. Naxos is especially to be commended for their well-played, well-recorded budget CDs. I'm sure, though, that there are many works that I've left out in my list that need performances and recordings. Why not tell me what you think?

More New CDs

Another cpo new release contains a well-chosen concert of VL's chamber music for strings. The Deutsches Streichtrio performs three duos: the Deux Choros Bis (1929) for violin and cello, a version of the 1921 Choros #2 for violin and cello, and the 1946 Duo for violin and viola. Best of all they've included one of VL's masterworks, the String Trio written in 1945. A disc with this repertoire is pretty much self-recommending, and Bert's thumb's up clinches the deal for me.

It's a good time for new Villa-Lobos from Europe. Bert also likes the new Lorelt disc with the BBC Singers and the Ensemble Lontano, under the direction of Odaline de la Martinez. This disc also includes the Deux Choros Bis, with the addition of some other chamber works: Choros 7 (1924) and the early modernist masterpieces the Quatour Symbolique and the Sexteto Mistico. Best of all, there's the original version of Bachianas Brasileiras #9, for an "orchestra of voices." This is apparently a re-issue of a disc recorded in the early 1990's.

It's like the people at cpo and Lorelt were listening to my wish-lists. Now, if they'd turn to the Nonetto and the operas Yerma (1955) and Daughter of the Clouds (1957)....

New Symphonies CD

"A new Symphony by Heitor Villa-Lobos is a world event."

- from a review in the Christian Science Monitor of the premiere of the 11th Symphony (quoted in Vasco Mariz's Heitor Villa-Lobos: Life & Work of the Brazilian Composer (1970).

Though it hasn't shown up at Amazon.com (or the other Amazon sites around the world), the new cpo CD of Symphonies 3 & 9 conducted by Carl St. Clair can be purchased from the European site JPC. Thanks to Bert Berenschot in the Netherlands for this update. Check here for all the information, including sound samples. I haven't ordered from JPC myself, but the CD is certainly a good buy at US$11.96 (13.99 Euros). As Mariz says, "The Ninth Symphony seems to have been composed in 1951 but has never been performed, and I have no data on it." So this release is certainly of world-wide interest to music lovers.

The early 3rd Symphony makes up the bulk of the rest of the disc, which has a nice filler in the "Ouverture de l'Homme Tel." I've often seen this work in lists of Max Eschig publications, and wondered what it sounded like. The short Real Audio excerpt on the JPC site includes only a fanfare, but you can tell from the clips that the orchestral playing from St. Clair's Stuttgart forces remains of the highest quality. I'm certainly looking forward to this one!

September VL Listening on Cultura FM

Here are some radio programs you might want to watch out for on Sao Paulo's Cutural FM - listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EDT.

Sept. 7, 1 p.m.: Marlos Nobre's Homenagem a Villa-Lobos is played by guitarist Joaquim Freire. This is from a Leman Classics CD.

Sept. 17, 11 a.m.: The 3rd Piano Trio is played by the Brazilian players Yara Bernette, piano, Ayrton Pinto, violin and Antonio del Claro, cello. On the same program, pianist Arnaldo Estrela plays the Poema singelo. I presume these are both from Brazilian CDs.

Sept. 18, 11 a.m.: The great bassoonist Noel Devos (who was born in France, but who has lived in Brazil since 1952) performs the Ciranda das sete notas for bassoon and strings with the Orquestra de Câmara Brasileira under the direction of Bernardo Bessler.

Sept. 23, 11 a.m.: Pianist Nahim Marun and violinist Claudio Cruz perform the Sonata Fantasia n° 2.

New World Symphony Music of the Americas Festival

The New World Symphony, based in Miami Florida, bills itself as "America's Orchestral Academy." The NWS "trains the most gifted graduates of distinguished music programs for leadership positions in orchestras and ensembles around the world."

The New World Symphony is best known to Villa-Lobos lovers, of course, through their very successful 1997 CD Alma Brasileira, with NWS Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas. My review of that CD is here. I still enjoy this CD very much - especially Choros no. 10, which does credit to the capabilities of the orchestra and its conductor, to the producers and engineers at BMG for its amazing sound, and of course to Villa-Lobos - it's an amazing work!

In mid-September, the New World Symphony is presenting a free four-concert festival of North and Latin American works entitled "Music of the Americas." Two Villa-Lobos works will be included. The modernist Quintet em Forme de Choros, written in Paris in 1928, will be performed on September 13, in a Woodwind, Brass and Wind Ensembles Concert conducted by David Amado.

The following night, September 14, conductor Gisele Ben-Dor, best known in the VL world for her very well-reviewed recording of VL's Symphony no. 10 "Amerindia", will conduct the Bachianas Brasileiras no. 9.

Besides these two VL works, the four concerts include masterworks by Revueltas and Ginastera, and a really nice mix of works by such composers as VL's close friend Edgard Varèse, Samuel Barber, Michael Tilson Thomas and Joan Tower. Sounds like a really interesting festival, and the price is certainly right!

The Villa-Lobos Letters in Paperback

Martin Anderson at Toccata Press has let me know that Lisa Peppercorn's book The Villa-Lobos Letters is now available in paperback.

Complete information is available at the Toccata Press site. You can order the hardcover and paperback Letters from Amazon.co.uk, though only the hardcover version is listed at Amazon.com.

This really is an interesting book, containing valuable insights into Villa-Lobos's life at important times of his life. Peppercorn was for many years the main source of information about Villa-Lobos in English. Now that we have new sources of biographical information we can take Peppercorn's biases into account - notably her championship of VL's first wife Lucília over his eventual life-partner Arminda. Still, Peppercorn's intimate knowledge of VL's life - especially in the 1930's - and her access to source documents makes this volume an absolute must for those of us interested in this extraordinary, and very human, composer.

August Villa-Lobos Listening on Cultura FM

Here are some interesting radio programs on Sao Paulo's Cutural FM - listen here on the Internet. Times are local Sao Paulo times, one hour ahead of EDT.

August 15: Cristina Ortiz plays the important piano part in Bachianas Brasileiras #3, with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Bonus solo pieces: A lenda do caboclo and Alma Brasileira (Choros #5).

August 19, 4 a.m.: The music for violin and piano isn't well known - the Sonata Fantasia no. 2 is an impressive work. This performance is by Claudio Cruz, violin, and Nahim Marun, piano, from a Brazilian CD that's not easily available in North America or Europe.

At 11:00 a.m. the same day, the program is "Ciranda - Academia brasileira da música," which includes some very interesting Brazilian music. Camargo Guarnieri's 3rd Symphony is played by the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, conducted by Johh Neschling. Next is a piece by the Villa-Lobos scholar turned composer Richard Tacuchian entitled Impulsos. Finally, Cristina Ortiz plays Impressões seresteiras from Villa-Lobos's Brazilian Cycle.

August 22, 11:00 a.m.: Pianist Martha Marchena performs the short but interesting Três Marias, and Cristina Ortiz plays A prole do bebê (I presume that's the first suite).

New Villa-Lobos Email List

I'm testing a new feature on The Villa-Lobos Magazine - an email newsletter that will send Villa-Lobos Magazine postings to your email inbox. The service comes via Topica.com - to sign up just add your email address to the form below:

Subscribe!

Enter your email to join Villa-Lobos News today!   Hosted by Topica

Or, send a blank email message to: villa-lobos-subscribe@topica.com

New CDs from Brana Records

I've just received three new CDs from Mark Walmsley, Executive Producer at Brana Records. Most exciting is Villa-Lobos Live!, which includes two major works for piano and orchestra played by the legendary pianist Felicja Blumental.



Though I've only had the chance for a quick listen, it's clear that this is an important issue, on musical as well as historical grounds. The 5th Piano Concerto was dedicated to Felicja Blumental (1908-1991), who was born in Poland but who lived in Brazil from 1942. This splendid pianist played the work at its premiere in London in 1955 with the composer at the podium. An version of of the work with Blumental and Villa-Lobos playing with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française has long been available as part of the 6-CD set Villa-Lobos par lui-meme. I'm anxious to hear these two works side by side.

The other major work is the excellent but underplayed Bachianas Brasileiras no. 3, written in 1938. This work matches Blumental with the Filarmonica Triestina. There's a trade-off here: this is a less accomplished orchestra, and certainly the work is less authoritatively interpreted by conductor Luigi Toffolo. However, I would argue this is a much greater work than the later, more flashy 5th Piano Concerto. More on this CD soon...

The other two CDs are interesting as well, and sound great. Felicja Blumental also plays piano in the CD Brazilian Forms. The big work here is Hekel Tavares Concerto in Brazilian Forms for Piano and Orchestra, a piece that sounds on first hearing surprisingly unlike Villa-Lobos. With conductor Anatole Fistoulari and the London Symphony Orchestra providing excellent support, the work is given the best possible presentation. Also on this CD are two works by Albeniz with Blumental accompanied by Italian orchestras.

On another CD soprano Annette Celine (Felicja Blumental's daughter) sings Cantigas - Brazilian Songs: music by Waldemar Henrique and Villa-Lobos, along with a sampling of the best South American composers of art songs. The three Villa-Lobos songs are all well-known, and among the composer's best: Cançâo Do Poeta Século XVIII, Nesta Rua, and Vióla Quebrada (one of my favourites, from the Chansons typiques bresiliennes, published in Paris in 1929). This is a marvellous recital - Celine's still strong voice combines with a completely solid grasp of the phrasing and rhythms of this music. Young pianist Christopher Gould provides excellent support, which is so important, since nearly every song has a piano accompaniment of some importance, and in some cases of distinction.

All three of these new CDs are warmly recommended.

The Brazilian Cycle in Concert

Pianist Seth Montfort plays the marvellous Brazilian Cycle at a concert coming up next weekend in San Francisco. The Ciclo brasileiro, according to Prof. Eero Tarasti, "represents the best in 'national romanticism' that he composed in the 1930s." Each of the pieces - Plantio do caboclo, Impressoes seresteiras, Festa no sertao and Danca do Indio Branco - is "extraordinarily well written for the piano, requiring a virtuoso technique." Representing scenes of Brazilian life, the cycle contains a wide variety of moods and technique. The final Dance of the White Indian is, according to a source I recently read, but can't put my finger on, a self-portrait of the composer.

Here's the information from Mark Pope:

The Englander House Victorian Mansion Concerts - Cathedral Hill Concerts benefiting the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra's International Competitions.
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA, Cathedral Hill/Opera Plaza at 807 Franklin St. (between Turk & Eddy)

The San Francisco Concerto Orchestra
Bach, Villa Lobos and Brazilian Bossa Novas
Saturday, August 10th, 2:00 PM (doors open at 1:30 PM)
$20 advance reservations ($25 at the door)

Seth Montfort will perform Villa-Lobos' Brazilian Cycle for solo piano. The San Francisco Concerto Orchestra performs Bossa Novas by Jobim and Bonfa, including The Girl from Ipanema and many other famous Brazilian songs, all beautifully arranged for orchestra by Mauro Correa and James Shallenberger, one of the founding members of the Kronos Quartet. The Orchestra will also perform Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.

Gregory Barber, conductor, with soloists Victor Romasevich, violin, David Johnson, flute, Rob Chavez, clarinet, Roger Wiesmeyer, oboe, & Mauro Correa, guitar & vocals.

Call (415) 362 - 6080, write, or email englanderh@aol.com for more details. For reservations, send phone number or email address and check payable to San Francisco Concerto Orchestra, c/o Mark Pope, 807 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA.

Correspondência Musicológica Euro-Brasileira

I've recently come across an important scholarly resource on the web: the Correspondência Musicológica Euro-Brasileira. A project of the Institut für Studien der Musikkultur des portugiesischen Sprachraumes, this website is in Portuguese and German.





An example of the kind of research included on the site is this English abstract of a 2001 article by Ricardo Tacuchian, Academia Brasileira de Música, Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, entitled "Um Requiem para Villa-Lobos":

"An hermeneutic approach of the Second Suite for Chamber Orchestra by Villa-Lobos points it out not only as a swan-song but also as a requiem for the composer himself. This last work by Villa-Lobos is a synthesis of his artistic trajectory, with candidly European, caboclo and African ambiances. Despite its great simplicity the piece holds elements that characterize the musician’s style. Besides symbolizing the composer’s multiple aesthetic aims the piece imparts his ultimate self-biography and his current painful soul."

That short description makes one wish for an English translation (which I'll try to have done, and posted on the HVL Website). It also, of course, points to the fact that the Second Suite is presently without a current recording on CD. Prof. Tacuchian's article comes from the Brasil 2000 Colóquio/Kolloquium entitled "J.S.BACH-H.VILLA-LOBOS Interpretações e Perspectivas do Barroco / Deutungen und Perspektiven des Barock."

The ISMPS website itself, by the way, includes a useful bibliography of monographs and periodical articles in many languages, with a focus on German and Portuguese.

Upcoming Concerts

I've posted a number of new events on the Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts page, from the summer 2002 festival season, and some newly-announced 2002-03 symphony orchestra concert seasons.

A concert that Southern Californians should consider attending is the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra concert of January 18, 2003. Conductor Enrique Arturo Diemecke and violinist Marijn Simons will perform the rare Fantasia de Movimentos Mixtos. This work, which I've never heard, and never seen on any concert programme or discography, is a violin concerto in three movements. I'm not sure why they're "mixed", but movements are entitled "Alma Convulsa", "Serenidade", and "Contentamento". Dedicated to violinist Paulina d'Ambrozio, the work was written in 1922 in Rio. The second movement was premiered in September 1922 by d'Ambrozio at the Teatro Municipal, with the composer at the podium. The premiere of the entire work was in April 1941, with Oscar Borgerth playing the violin and Albert Wolff conducting the Orquestra do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro.

Maestro Diemecke and the up-and-coming Dutch violinist Simons have performed the work before, with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico in March of 2001. Here's a review that seemed pretty positive judging by Google's English translation.

Listen to Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM

There are some interesting works you can hear on Cultura FM on the Internet in July. As usual, I'm listing works that are hard to find in North American and European record stores.

July 4: Right up there with the String Trio are two great modernist works from the 20's: the Nonetto and the Quarteto Simbólico. Both can be heard in a live concert from 1991, at 10 p.m. Sao Paulo time (that's 7 in the evening, prime time, in MDT Red Deer).

July 9: The complete string quartets have been recorded by the Quarteto Bessler-Reis on the Kuarup label. I purchased this set direct from Kuarup (and was very pleased with the price and the speed of delivery). You can sample the set by listening at 5 p.m. on the 5th to the Quartet #5.

July 31: One work that is quite rare is the Introdução ao Choros for guitar and orchestra. This is unexpected considering the huge number of CDs containing the Guitar Concerto and the solo works for guitar. Finnish guitarist Timo Korhonen has the piece included in his excellent Complete Works for Guitar series on the Ondine label. The piece is a kind of precis of the entire Choros series, with quotations from many of the works in this great 12-part saga. Here's what Bert Berenschot says about the piece:

"It is more an orchestral piece with some parts for guitar then that it is a guitar concerto. It's a 13 min. piece with themes from different Choros. It ends with an slow orchestral quote of the first bars of Choros 1 for guitar, so it can be connected with Choros 1 when all the Choros are performed in one concert. I cannot imagine it will ever happen........., well ok, maybe in 2059 or 2087..."

You can now relatively easily piece together all of the Choros from CDs with the exception of #6, so you can program just such a marathon in your own home. I think I'll do that myself...

New Symphonies Recording on its Way

Here is some interesting news from the very knowledgeable and well-connected Dutch Villa-Lobos fan Bert Berenschot:

"Some news from a spokesman of CPO: they will release the 3th and 9th symphony in september. In august they will release a cd with (a.o.) the amazing String Trio."

This is good news - the excellent Carl St. Clair Stuttgart Integral Symphonies series on cpo records is winding down. This release should be as interesting as any in the series: neither of these works is at all well-known. I've heard neither, and haven't heard of any recordings. It's also great to have a new version of the String Trio on CD.

Thanks, Bert, for this update.

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM - June 2002

Here are some Villa-Lobos works you can listen to on Internet radio during the month of June on Cultura FM from Sao Paulo:

June 5: the second Cello Concerto, from the Dorian CD with Andrés Díaz and the Orquestra Sinfônica Simon Bolívar da Venezuela, conducted by Arturo Diemecke. This is repeated on June 12.

June 8: guitarist Joaquim Freire playing five Etudes.

June 10: the Pequena Suite and the quirky Choros #3 "Pica-Pao".

June 18: this one's interesting, since the CD isn't easily available in North America: the great tone poem Uirapuru played by the Orquestra Sinfônica Nacional da Universidade Federal Fluminense, conducted by Ligia Amadio. Later that same day, the Choros #7 with a chamber group conducted by Mário Tavares. Both programs are repeated June 25.

June 22: Choros #1 played by guitarist Carlos Farinas, with a prelude by Fabio Zanon.

June 25: Julian Bream's slick version of the Guitar Concerto, with the LSO under Andre Previn. This program includes some etudes performed by Fabio Zanon.

June 26: Here's a date to mark in your calendar. Choros #6 is by report a masterpiece, but it's unrepresented in the CD catalogue in North America or Europe. At 11:00 Sao Paulo time, on the program "Ciranda: Academia brasileira da música", you can hear the piece performed by the Sinfônica Brasileira, with conductor Isaac Karabatchevsky. Also on the program is Gnattali's Sinfonia Popular no. 1, with the OSB conducted by Cláudio Santoro. I'm not sure if these works are from Brazilian CDs or if they were recorded in concert.

The Boeuf Chronicles

Speaking of Darius Milhaud and the music of Brazil, there's a really interesting series about just that on Daniella Thompson's Brazilian Music weblog. The "Boeuf Chronicles" tell the fascinating story of a sophisticated musical genius connecting with a vibrant popular music culture of early 20th century Brazil. Daniella's musical examples are really interesting. I'm looking forward to dusting off my old Milhaud MP3's and following along with this cutting-edge musical research.

New Villa-Lobos/Milhaud CD from CBC Records

As promised, here are the details on a new CD from CBC Records.





SCARAMOUCHE


Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Hans Graf, conductor

SMCD

TRACKING

Heitor Villa Lobos: Descobrimento do Brasil (The Discovery of Brazil) Suite #2 - 11:16

1. I. Impressao Moura 3:04
2. II. Adagio sentimental 6:04
3. III. Cascavel 2:08

Heitor Villa Lobos: Descobrimento do Brasil (The Discovery of Brazil) Suite #3 - 16:41
4. I. Impressao Ibertica 10:22
5. II. Festa mas selvas 3:42
6. III. Valaloce 2:37

Darius Milhaud: Scaramouche: Suite for Saxophone & Orchestra - 9:01
( Jeremy Brown, saxophone )

7. I. Vif 2:56
8. II. Modere 3:40
9. III. Brazileira 2:25

Darius Milhaud: Saudades do Brazil - 24:56

10. Overture :44
11. I. Sorocaba 1:45
12. II. Botofago 2:02
13. III. Leme 2:43
14. IV. Copacabana 2:42
15. V. Ipanema 2:11
16. VI. Gavea 1:40
17. VII. Corovado 2:11
18. VIII. Tijuca 2:14
19. IX. Sumare 1:49
20. X. Paineras 1:18
21. XI. Larenjeiras 1:11
22. XII. Paysandu 1:42
23. Reprise: Overture :44

TOTAL 61:54

CREDITS

Project Producers: HAROLD GILLIS
Recording Producer: KAREN WILSON
Recording Engineer: GEOFF ROWLAND
Technical Assistance: BOB DOBLE, PETER COOK
Digital Editing & Mastering: PETER COOK
Production Coordinator: PAULETTE BOURGET
Cover Design: CAROLINE BROWN

RECORDED AT JACK SINGER HALL, CALGARY, ALBERTA – SEPTEMBER 9, 10, 2001.

*****

The CD will be officially released next Tuesday, May 28. You can buy it directly from the CBC Records website, or from Amazon.com.

Bachianas Brasileiras no. 9 for an "Orchestra of Voices"

Villa-Lobos wrote his Bachianas Brasileiras no. 9 - the last in the series - in 1945. The work was originally written for an "orchestra of voices" in six parts, though most of us know this piece best in VL's version for strings. As David P. Appleby says in his excellent new book Heitor Villa-Lobos - A Life (1887-1959):

"Even though Bachianas brasileiras no. 9 is a short piece, the writing appears as formidable to today's singers as the vocal writing of Beethoven in the last movement of Symphony no. 9 must have appeared to sopranos of his time. It seems that both Beethoven and Villa-Lobos considered the human voice the ultimate musical instrument to conclude a series of important musical works. Villa-Lobos, concerned with a different vocal timbre for the various voices of the fugue in vocal performance, gave a different syllable to each of the voices. The various performances by stringed instruments are generally able to project the desired contrast of timbre much more easily."

I know of no currently available recordings of the vocal version of BB#9. For those who live in the Boston area, there's a chance to hear this piece live in concert with the Spectrum Singers. Here's the concert information from their website:

Music from the Americas
Friday, May 17, 2002 at 8:00 pm
First Church Congregational, 11 Garden Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge

Irving Fine - The Hour Glass
Heitor Villa-Lobos - Bachiana Brasileira No. 9 for Orchestra of Voices
Harry Somers - Songs of the Newfoundland Outports
William Schuman - Carols of Death
Ernst Bacon - Three American Songs
Conductor: John W. Ehrlich

Luckily, the concert is being recorded for later broadcast on WGBH radio. I will contact the station and try to find out the broadcast date, and post it here.

Guitar Concerto in Concert

The Villa-Lobos Guitar Concerto will be performed this Sunday, April 28, by guitarist Fukuda Shin-ichi and the Japan Philharmonic under the direction of Toyama Yuzo.

For other Villa-Lobos concerts from around the world, check out the Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts Page.

New VL Piano Concerto CD

This News Release from Brana Records should excite Villa-Lobos lovers around the world:

NEWS RELEASE - For immediate use - Tuesday 22nd April 2002

LIVE VILLA-LOBOS RECORDING RESTORED

On 25th May 1955, Heitor Villa-Lobos conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and soloist Felicja Blumental in a performance of his 5th Piano Concerto at the Musikverein in Vienna.

A recording of this performance has been restored by Brana Records and is to be released as a limited edition CD on Tuesday 2nd July, together with the composer’s Bachianas Brasileiras No. 3 for piano and orchestra and 4 further unaccompanied pieces for piano.

The edition will be limited to 500 and may be pre-ordered at http://www.branarecords.com/ or via sales@branarecords.com at $19.99 or £13.99 plus postage.

It was as a result of hearing an earlier performance of his Bachianas Brasileras No 3 that Villa-Lobos promised to write a piano concerto for Felicja Blumental. She performed the World Premier at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the London Symphony Orchestra under Anatole Fistoulari.

Brana Records will be releasing a series of restored Felicja Blumental recordings including the Albeniz Piano Concerto and Hekel Tavares’ Concerto in Brazilian Forms for Piano and Orchestra.

For Further Information contact:
Mark Walmsley, Executive Producer, Brana Records. 01737 768 127
mark@branarecords.com

*****

Thanks, Mark, for that information. I'm looking forward to hearing this music. The piano concertos (and BB #3) aren't as well known as they should be, and the artistry of Felicja Blumental is legendary. The abilities of Villa-Lobos as a conductor have been questioned by some, and admired by others. This recording, with a great orchestra, should help us decide.

Fans of Felicja Blumental should definitely check out Classical Discoveries - an interesting new website with lots of streaming audio.

Villa-Lobos Conference in Paris, pt. 2

Lee Boyd continues her commentary on the Villa-Lobos Conference in Paris:

Saturday April 13

NOEL DEVOS discussed the large amount of very expressive wind music produced by VL, which he pointed out was both idiomatic and often virtuosic, though never impossible to play. Moreover, he felt VL was more generous than most composers in giving orchestral winds juicy parts. [Here is an interesting interview with Noel Devos from Double Reed in PDF format].

MANUEL DE CORREA LAGO gave detailed analyses of the occurrence of the large number of children's folk songs in the Guia Pratica and other works, such as the Cirandas. He suggested some published sources which may have been used by VL, in addition to his own personal experience.

LUCIA SILVA BARRENECHEA gave the most thrilling presentation of the conference, in my opinion. First she read excerpts from her doctoral thesis, which described the background of VL's composing the "Hommage a Chopin," and analyzed his approach to combining Chopin's style with his own. She had to sing excerpts which she would have demonstrated on the piano, but we were in a room without one. For that reason, she also had to play a recording of the complete piece which she made 4 days earlier, rather than perform live. Her performance was simply masterful: total technical control and a breadth of expression rarely available in playing such virtuosic material. I am sure both Chopin and Villa-Lobos would have been delighted had they been present.

[A highlight later that day was] Benjamin Bunch's playing the de los Angeles recording of the Aria of Bachaianas Brasileiras No. 5 at the end of his talk. Which is
still haunting me.

In the afternoon there was a roundtable discussing some publishing background, and the possible ways in which the complete works of Villa-Lobos might be issued. Gandelman observed that electronic media have completely changed how things are done, so their effects might retard or speed up the process depending on goodness knows what. Maestro Duarte said at age 60 he knew he would never live to see the end of it, but proposed that a commission of young and brilliant musicologists (LF Lima immediately sprang to my mind) be appointed to address the work in an orderly and up to date manner.

Turibio Santos, as Director of the Villa-Lobos Museum, described how much music there actually is to cope with, and even more appearing. The Guimaraes family once drove up to the Museum in a Volkswagen, opened the trunk, and unloaded a number of boxes of scores and other materials. They have promised to look for more. He described the previous time in Museum history, during which Dona Arminda organized and promoted its work, as "The Heroic Period." I think he said his regime's main task is consolidation.

Gandelman told an interesting story of how he tried to track down the lost score of Villa-Lobos's 5th Symphony, which involved Ricordi of New York, which was bought by a medium size company and then by a very large publishing conglomerate. He said he thought he might be able to get help from the Mafia to obtain whatever was still in the old files. The panel asked him about that, and as he was talking about the Mafia, I suddenly blurted out, "But Mayor Giuliani killed the Mafia!" Perhaps I shouldn't be allowed out in public any more: I was surprised at myself and rather embarrassed. But life went on. The day came to a climax when someone said we should all give Professor Tarasti a standing ovation for organizing this historic First, but not last, International Villa-Lobos Conference. This was a very nice moment I'll never forget.

Something else I'll never forget is how I realized, in the moment of shocked silence after my weird comment, that everybody in the room knew who Mayor Giuliani was, and why that was so.

The best pleasure of the conference was just being with people who wanted to talk about their experiences with Villa-Lobos. Mostly, in my life, when I want to talk about this topic, I have been used to seeing my companion's eyes slowly go out of focus as attention drifts away. My husband attended the concert on Thursday night and will give me a paragraph on that soon.

*****

Thanks for that report, Lee. We'll all look forward to Jim's report on the concert. This is the first Mafia connection I've heard of to classical music - all that comes to mind is the opera in Godfather III). With Rudy Giuliani no longer in public life, we should perhaps be looking to Tony Soprano for help.

Gala VL Concert in Paris

Another of the performers invited to perform at the Gala Concert in Paris was guitarist Benjamin Bunch. His website includes an MP3 file of the second prelude, from the Etcetera CD "Villa-Lobos and Friends."

The field of Villa-Lobos guitar music - especially the five preludes - is especially crowded. One day I'll count up the CDs that are currently available, and the guitarists who have MP3s of one or more of the preludes available on the web. I first heard this music on an old Julian Bream LP, so that's how it sounds in my head. The Bunch version of the second prelude shows a mature and polished artist. I'd love to hear more of this disc, but unfortunately Etcetera distribution is spotty. I can't find this disk (KTC 1241) on Amazon.com or CDNow.com. Etcetera, an Amsterdam-based company, is the source of some of the most important Villa-Lobos discs, including many by Alfred Heller. Can anyone help me out with a website or North American web distributor?

Soprano Mai Israeli recently let us know about performances of Villa-Lobos songs in Tel Aviv and other venues in Israel. She was asked to perform at the recent Gala Concert, part of the First International Villa-Lobos Congress in Paris:

"dear Dean
i just got back from the conference. it was very successful. Musicians from all over the world meet for Villa-lobos conference.
As i promised i am writing to you about my experience in this conference.
the first villa lobos conference was very impresive and educating. great Musicians, musicologists and researchers took part in this conference. it was very interesting and educating to hear each research and the point of view of each of them. also, most of us did not knew each other, we felt like a big family, the villa lobos familiy.
The gala concert went very well. i was very flattered when Mr. Pierre Vidal, the president of the conference, told me that he was looking for the right villa lobos singer for a long time, and that now, finally, he found her. he had suggested to arrange recordings of the villa lobos songs with labels in Switzerland.
Prf. Tarasti, the vice president, told me that the interpretation were very accurate and that the style also were exactly the villa lobos style.
i was very honored to participate in such important event and to get such warm responses.
My planes for the future are- recording and performing my recital of brazilian songs all over the world.
i hope we will meet some time.
yours sincerely
mai israeli"

Thanks, Mai for this report. I'm certainly looking forward to hearing your interpretations.

Jean de Lery

Lee Boyd's latest report from the Villa-Lobos Conference in Paris makes reference (in her report on Emmanual Gorge's presentation "Influences indigenes sur le langage musical de Villa-Lobos") to the 16th Century French explorer Jean de Lery. In his Histoire d'un voyage faict en la terre du Bresil, autrement dite Amerique, published in 1578, Lery quotes a number of Indian melodies, which Villa-Lobos later used in some of his compositions.






Thanks to the excellent University of Virginia Library website "The Renaissance in Print: Sixteenth Century Books in the Douglas Gordon Collection", portions of Lery's book are available in facsimile on the web. The picture above shows a woodcut of a Tupi ceremonial dance pictured in the rare first edition of Jean de Lery's Brazilian book. Here's a larger version. Note the parrot, a common companion of many performers on album covers - see Benjamin Bunch's album above.

A modern translation of Lery's work is available in paperback from Amazon.com: the Amazon site includes sample pages.

Gala VL Concert in Paris

As the International Villa-Lobos Conference continues in Paris, a gala concert is planned for Friday evening. Here's the concert schedule:

Heitor Villa-Lobos - Un continent musical

Concert de gala
jeudi 11 avril 2002 a 19 heures

Maria Ines Guimaraes, piano
- Alma brasileira, Choros no. 5
- Sururu na cidade (Zequinha de Abreu)
- Beija-Flores (Maria Ines Guimaraes)

Mai Israeli, soprano and Efrat Peled, piano- Viola Quebrada
- Adeus Emma
- Saudades da Minha Vida
- Estrela e Lua Nova
- Xango
- Cancao do Poeta do Seculo 18
- Desejo
- Samba Classico

Benjaminn Bunch, guitar- Modinha (arr. Bunch)
- Prelude no. 1 (version enregistree par VL)
- Yara (Anacleto Augusto de Medeiros - arr. Bunch)
- Tango brasileiro (Chiquinha Gonzago - arr. Bunch)

Emil Holmstrom, piano- Rudepoema

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..."

International Villa-Lobos Conference

As nice as it is right now in Red Deer (after a horrendously cold early spring), I'd still rather be in Paris right now, attending the first International Villa-Lobos Conference. Here are some reports from our intrepid reporter on the scene: Lee Boyd. 

 From Wednesday's program: 

Eero Tarasti - Villa-Lobos's Contribution to the XXth Century Music - "Professor Tarasti situated VL as a composer for audiences all over the world as well as Brazilians. He cited several composers who achieved international recognition in the 20th Century by applying their erudite musical skills to the folk and popular musics of their countries." 

Roberto Duarte - The Revisions of VL's Orchestral Works - "Maestro Duarte explained how many details in VL's orchestral manuscripts needed to be corrected before musicans' parts could be distributed for his VL recording sessions. Some were the same as any composer's minor oversights, such as putting rests in the bassoon parts but not in the double bass, but one typical VL error roused sympathy in all of us - a performance instruction with phrases in both Portuguese and French." "Our question periods are in French, English & Portuguese, also sometimes in the same sentences. Of special note, Maestro Duarte used his laptop and PowerPoint software to display and manipulate scanned manuscript excerpts, which worked very nicely." 

Noel Devos - "Noel Devos is a bassoonist who has performed much VL music, some under the composer's direction. He described several occasions on which an orchestra member said his instrument couldn't execute the notes as written, whereupon VL took the instrument and played them." "Unfortunately Ana Stella Schic could not appear a the afternoon sessions [her scheduled talk was Memoires of Villa-Lobos]." 

Pierre Vidal - Villa-Lobos tel que je l'ai connu - "Maestro Vidal described his many experiences with the composer on and offstage, during VL's time in Paris." 

Maria Teresa Madeira - Villa-Lobos and Jose Vierira Brandao - Madera is concentrating on documenting the life of the pianist Jose Vieiro Brandao, who permiered many of VL's piano works, and to whom some are dedicated." 

Ronald Paz - In Memory of Heitor Villa-Lobos: Results of the Research - "Ronaldo Paz showed a film about his family's reminiscences of meeting VL in Berlin in the 1930's. The sound system of the Parisian equipment didn't cooperate with the Bolivian audio, but Sr. Paz read his paper in clear, well-paced Spanish that precisely matched the film speed, a fascinating performance." 

Leah Arbelada Boyd - Truth & Justice for Dona Arminda, as well as for Dona Lucilia, and even Dona Lisa - "Leah Arbelada Boyd described the allegory on the life of Villa-Lobos which is embedded in Jorge Amado's Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, and discussed some of the circumstances surrounding it." 

"Professor Tarasti fortunately obtained for us a restored copy of the film O Descobrimento do Brasil with VL's music, which he showed after the talks. Besides the music, there is some unusual anthropological material in this Brazilian government production from the 1930's." 

Thanks so much, Lee, for these fascinating reports. Reports from Thursday's sessions are on their way!