South America Week

Just in time for this year's (very early) Carnival, it's South America Week on BBC Radio 3, Feb. 3-10. There are quite a few works by Villa-Lobos scheduled, including a few that are rarely programmed. Amazonas, a large work for orchestra, was written in 1916 and first performed in Paris in 1929.

Performance on 3
7 February 2008
BBC Symphony Orchestra

Thursday 7 February 2008 19:00-20:45 (Radio 3)

Petroc Trelawny introduces highlights from the BBC Symphony Orchestra's recent South American Week, featuring orchestral music from Brazil and Argentina, including Astor Piazzolla's tango-influenced Bandoneon Concerto.
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
Playlist:

Per Arne Glorvigen (bandoneon)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Enrique Diemecke (conductor)

Ginastera: Panambi Suite, Op 1a
Piazzolla: Bandoneon Concerto (Aconcagua)
Villa-Lobos: Amazonas

Plus tangos played by Tango for 3, bossa nova sung by Monica Vasconcelos and samba drumming.

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On Feb. 4th, two great choral works of Villa-Lobos are featured on Afternoon on 3. Bendita sabedoria is one of VL's last works, written in 1958. The rarely performed choral version of Bachianas Brasileiras #9 (1945) is one of my all-time favourite Villa-Lobos works. It must be wickedly hard to sing this amazing music.

Feb. 4, 2.00pm South American Week

A week of music celebrating all things South American as performed by the BBC Orchestras, BBC Singers and friends. Music by South American composers features alongside recordings made on tour in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil.

Villa-Lobos: Bendita sabedoria
BBC Singers
Celso Antunes (conductor)

Ginastera: Variaciones concertantes for chamber orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Susanna Malkki (conductor)

Ginastera: Panambi, Op 1
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Enrique Diemecke (conductor)

Villa-Lobos: Bachianas brasileiras No 9
BBC Singers
Odaline de la Martinez (conductor)

Lindberg: Chorale (based on Bach: Es ist genug)
Bruckner: Symphony No 9 in D minor
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor)

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Later that week on Afternoon on 3, more choral works are featured, along with works by Brazilian composers Mignone, Krieger, Guarnieri, and Santoro.

Feb. 6, 2.00pm

South American Week

Continuing Radio 3's celebration of all things South American as performed by the BBC Orchestras, Singers and friends.

Mignone: Festas das igrejas
Krieger: Passacaglia for the New Millennium
BBC Symphony Orchestra
John Neschling (conductor)

Villa-Lobos: Ave Maria; Pater noster
BBC Singers
Celso Antunes (conductor)

Ginastera: Concerto for piano and orchestra No 1, Op 28
Rolf Hind (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin (conductor)

Piazzolla: Suite del angel transc. for string quartet by Eckart Runge
Artemis String Quartet

Guarnieri: Ave Maria
Santoro: Ave Maria
Escobar: Ave Maria
BBC Singers
Celso Antunes (conductor)

Ginastera: Lamentations of Jeremiah
BBC Singers
Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

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And on Afternoon on 3, on Feb. 7, after a bunch of rarities, the big VL gun: BB#5.

Feb.7, 2.00pm South American Week

Continuing Radio 3's celebration of all things South American as performed by the BBC Orchestras, BBC Singers and friends.

Revueltas: El Renacuajo paseador (ballet suite)
Guarnieri: Abertura concertante
Piazzolla: Las Cuatro estaciones portenas
Ulster Orchestra
Celso Antunes (conductor)
...
Palau: Concierto levantino for guitar and orchestra
Fabio Zanon (guitar)
Ulster Orchestra
Max Bragado-Darman (conductor)

Chavez: Symphony No 5
Moncayo: Huapango
Ulster Orchestra
Enrique Barrios (conductor)

Villa-Lobos: Bachiana brasileira No 5
Catherine Bott (soprano)
Ulster Orchestra
Josep Caballe-Domenech (conductor)

Marquez: Danzon for orchestra No 2
Ulster Orchestra
Enrique Barrios (conductor)

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Finally, on Feb. 8th, also on Afternoon on 3 (what a great show!), there are more choral works, and an amazing finale, the Quatuor for Flute, Harp, Celesta, Alto Saxophone, and Women's Voices. This is one of Villa's great modernist works.

2.00pm South American Week

Continuing Radio 3's celebration of all things South American as performed by the BBC Orchestras, BBC Singers and friends.

Chopin: Fantaisie-impromptu in C sharp minor for piano, Op 66
Ginastera: Danza del gaucho matrero (Furiosamente ritmico...)
Ingrid Fliter (piano)

Ginastera: Ollantay
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Gisele Ben-Dor (conductor)

Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain for piano and orchestra
Martin Roscoe (piano)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
David Charles Abell (conductor)

Villa-Lobos: 2 Lendas Amerindias em Nheengatu; Canide Ioune
Cardoso: Os Atabaques da Pombagira
BBC Singers
Celso Antunes (conductor)

Ginastera: Harp Concerto
Catrin Finch (harp)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Josep Cabelle-Domenech (conductor)

Ginastera: Popul vuh
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Gisele Ben-Dor (conductor)

Villa-Lobos: Quatuor
BBC Singers
Lontano
Odaline de la Martinez (conductor)

Bizet: Carmen Suite Nos 1 and 2
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
David Charles Abell (conductor)

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The great thing about Radio 3 is that you can listen to programmes online for seven days after they've been broadcast live. Go to the Listen Again page.

Paris Symposium: Le piano brésilien

Thanks to the blog of the Association Bresilienne de Concerts, here is the website of an interesting symposium (colloque) in Paris, which takes place at the end of this month and the beginning of February, organized by the Université de Paris-Sorbonne, the Observatoire Musical Français, the Université Fédérale du Paraná, and PPGMúsica. It's called "Le piano brésilien: Composition, interprétation, pédagogie."

Two concerts will be presented as part of the Symposium, on January 31 and February 1. Works by Villa-Lobos to be performed include Sonata-Fantasia #1 for violin & piano, A Tres Marias, Choros #5, and O trenzinho do Caipira.

Here are the papers to be presented:

• Danielle Pistone - Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris4
  Le piano brésilien : situation et perspectives
  
• Zélia Chueke - Universidade Federal do Paraná
  La musique brésilienne pour piano : une pluralité culturelle
• Luiz Paulo Sampaio - Université de Rio de Janeiro
  Le rôle du piano dans la vie musicale et culturelle de Rio de Janeiro de la fin du XIX siècle à nos jours
• Paula da Matta Université de Rio de Janeiro -
  Le romantisme et le piano brésilien contemporain
• Isaac Chueke Conservatoire Superior de Musique et Beaux Arts du Paraná-
  Le Trio de Francisco Braga : (trio)mphe de la musique de chambre romantique brésilienne
• Fredi Gerling - Université Federale du Rio Grande do Sul
  Performance analysis and Analysis for performance: a study of Francisco Mignone's valsa de esquina nº2
• Maria Helena Elias - OMF (Paris-Sorbonne)
  La création pianistique contemporaine au Brésil
• Cristina Caparelli Gerling - Université Federale du Rio Grande do Sul
  Tradition and innovation in recently composed Brazilian Piano Pieces
  
  

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM: February 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.

This month's highlight is the Feb. 18th Bachianas Brasileiras marathon (#1-#5, plus #9).

Feb. 1
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações: Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Concerto para violão e pequena orquestra. Orquestra de Câmara Brasileira. Direção Bernado Bessler. Turíbio Santos (violão). Bachianas Brasileira N° 9 Orquestra de cordas. Fantasia para saxofone e orquestra. Orquestra de câmara Brasileira. Paulo Moura saxofone. Ciranda das sete notas. Orquestra de câmara Brasileira.Noel Devos (fagote)

Feb. 2
12:00 CONCERTOS DO MEIO DIA com o maestro Walter Lourenção Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Bachianas Brasileiras n° 4. Orquestra Sinfônica do Novo Mundo. Reg.: Michael Tilson Thomas./ Richard STRAUSS - Assim Falou Zarathustra, op. 30. Orquestra Sinfônica da Rádio Bávara. Reg.: Lorin Maazel

Feb. 3
22:00 KALEIDOSCÓPIO com Almeida Prado: VILLA-LOBOS - Momoprecoce. Orquestra Filarmônica de Jena. Reg.: David Montgomery./ Quarteto n°5. Quarteto de cordas Bessler-Reis.

Feb. 4
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Suite Popular Brasileira , Choros N° 5, Paulo Pedrassoli (Violão)./ Amazonas, Orquestra Sinfônica da Rádio da Eslovaquia. Reg. Roberto Duarte

Feb. 6
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi. Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - "Impressões seresteiras" do ciclo básico. Miguel Proença (piano). / Pablo de SARASATE - Malagueña Op.21 No.1. Itzhak Perlman (violino). Samuel Sanders (piano) / Johannes BRAHMS - "Poco allegretto com variazoni - Doppio movimento" do Quarteto para cordas No.3 em si bemol maior Op.67. Quarteto Italiano. / Frédéric CHOPIN - Valsa No.1 "Grande valsa brilhante" em mi bemol maior Op.18. Maria João Pires (piano).

Feb. 10
19:00 NOVO MUNDO - A Música das Américas: Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Quinteto em forma de choros. Quinteto Villa-Lobos./ Manuel PONCE - Concerto para violino. Henryk Szeryng (solista) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Dir.: Enrique Batiz./ Aaron COPLAND - Quiet City. Orquestra Filarmônica de Nova York. Dir.: Leonard Bernstein

Feb. 11
11:00 TEMA E VARIAÇÕES com o Maestro Julio Medaglia. Concertos para piano de villa-Lobos.

20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Erosão, Alvorada na Floresta Tropical, Gênesis . Orquestra Sinfonica da Rádio Tcheca. Reg. Roberto Duarte

Feb. 14 - Happy Valentine's Day!
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi. Johann Nepomuck HUMMEL - Primeiro movimento do Concerto para piano em lá maior, S4/W24. Howard Shelley (piano). London Mozart Players. Reg.: Howard Shelley. / Jean-Baptiste LULLY - Chantons tous de l'Amour. Les Arts Florissants. Reg.: Willian Christie. / Antonio VIVALDI - Concerto para flauta transversal em ré maior RV 427. Barthold Kuijken (flauta). Academia Montis Regalis. Reg.: Barthold Kuijken. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Plantio do Caboclo. João Carlos Assis Brasil (piano).

Feb. 18
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Sinfonia n° 4 e Sinfonia n° 6. Orquestra Sinfônica de Stuttgard. Reg. Carl St. Clair

22:00 SALA DE CONCERTO: Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Bachianas Brasileiras n° 1. The Yale Cellos. / Bachianas Brasileiras n° 2. Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo. Reg.: Roberto Minczuk. / Bachianas Brasileiras n° 3. Jean Louis Steuerman (piano). Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo. Reg.: Roberto Minczuk. / Bachianas Brasileiras n° 4. Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo. Reg.: Roberto Minczuk. / Bachianas Brasileiras n° 5. Victoria de Los Angeles (soprano). Orquestra Nacional da Radiodifusão Francesa. Reg.: Heitor Villa-Lobos. / Bachianas Brasileiras n° 9. Orquestra Nacional da Radiodifusão Francesa. Reg.: Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Feb. 25
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Choros n° 6. Orquestra Rias. Reg. Heitor Villa-Lobos/Bachianas Brasileiras n° 4. Orquestra Nacional Da Rádio Francesa.Reg. Heitor Villa-Lobos

Feb. 27
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi. Joseph HAYDN - Quarteto em ré maior Op.103, Hob. III .83. Quarteto Festetics. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - "Ballada" de Homenagem a Chopin. João Carlos Assis Brasil (piano). / Johann Sebastian BACH - Sonata para viola da gamba e cravo No.1 em sol maior, BWV 1027. Perez Dworecki (viola). Paulo Gori (piano). / Antonin DVORÁK - "Allegro con brio" Sinfonia em sol maior Op.88. Orquestra Sinfônica da Galícia. Reg.: Victor Pablo Pérez.

Symphony #10 from cpo

Carl St. Clair's excellent series of Villa-Lobos Symphonies on the cpo label comes to a big finish with the recent release of Symphony #10. Here's information on the new release, with some sound clips, from the German JPC online music store.

Though most of the works in the cpo series were either completely unknown, or had only a single rival on CD, there are two recent versions of Symphony #10 easily available. One is a Harmonia Mundi release from 2003, with Carmen Cruz Simo conducting the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. The other is from Koch International, released in 2000, with Gisele Ben-Dor conducting the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra.

I'm looking forward to listening to more than just clips from the new cpo release. The culmination of the Symphonies series is a really amazing accomplishment by St. Clair, his Stuttgart players, and cpo. It will take some time before we can properly judge Villa-Lobos as a symphonist, placing his symphonic cycles among his other great cycles: the Bachianas, the Choros, the String Quartets, the orchestral tone poems, and the concertos. This couldn't have happened without these discs.

Congratulations, Carl!

[thanks to Borris Mayer for the heads-up on this]

Villa-Lobos String Quartets

While I post this, I'm listening to the Quarteto Amazônia play Villa-Lobos's 8th and 9th String Quartets, on Radio UOL:

http://musica.busca.uol.com.br/radio/index.php?check=artista&busca=VILLA-LOBOS&param1=homebusca

This is from a double CD Kuarup disc that finishes off the 17-work series of complete quartets begun by the Bessler-Reis Quartet (who play #1-6, and 12-17).

I have the discs at home, and feel good about having access to these great works. It's convenient to listen online as well - the Radio UOL service is great. It is low-fi, though, so you might want to buy the MP3s from Amazon.com. And of course, you can look for the Cuarteto Latinoamericano or Danubius Quartet (on Marco Polo), on CD or MP3s. Your best bet for value, though, comes from Brilliant Classics - they've repackaged the Cuarteto Latinoamericano discs from Dorian at a very nice price. This set, by the way, shows up in a lot of eBay vendor sites. There are a few other options for these works. One is #6 played by The Hollywood String Quartet, in a historic performance now on CD.

Another way to listen to VL's string quartets is at a live concert. Next Sunday, if you're in Southern California, you can hear #4 played by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano.

I don't think we can call the Villa-Lobos quartets unknown any more; not with this many CDs, MP3s, online streams, and live performances out there.

But coming back to the Kuarup set, you can read the notes online at the Kuarup site, or in Google-English-ish translation. They include an essay by Antonio Hernandez entitled "Confronto de colossos". The other colossos that Villa confronts in his String Quartet series is Bela Bartok. Are the cycles of quartets by Bartok and Villa-Lobos the greatest two of the 20th century? I would guess lots of music lovers would agree with Bartok, but they might think of Shostakovitch or ten or twelve other composers before they'd come up with Villa-Lobos.

The tendency in much of the literature about string quartets is to remind people that Villa-Lobos wrote in this genre at all, since everyone tends to write and talk about the folkloric side of his music: the Bachianas and Choros series, and the guitar music. Another common thread is to talk about Villa the innovator, as in this excerpt from Robin Stowell's 2003 Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet (p. 161):

Remarkably, Villa-Lobos wrote, as early as 1916, a complete movement with left-hand pizzicatos and double harmonics, effects only rarly tapped before in the medium. His subsequent exploitation of harmonic effects in his Third Quartet is remarkable, as are, on paper at least (because they rarely sound!), the ponticello harmonics required by Berio in his Sincronie.

We'll see if the Villa-Lobos quartets can climb the ladder of composer reputations in the coming years, at least part-way as high as the Villa-Lobos devotees might think they deserve.

The story of Magdalena

The Writers' Guild of America strike is currently making plenty of news, as did the Broadway Stagehands' strike which ended last November. Something like this had an impact on the life of Villa-Lobos in 1948, in connection with his show Magdalena:

"Magdalena ran into a musicians' strike and became a cause célèbre when the producers claimed the piece was immune from union rules because it was not a musical but an opera. After deliberating, the union announced that, since it was playing in a legitimate theater, it was not an opera but a musical, and closed it, along with all the other musicals. And you thought it didn't matter."

[from a 2002 New York Times article by William Wright]

I'm putting together the page for Magdalena on The Villa-Lobos Website. It's well-timed, with the 60th Anniversary of the show coming up, and with so many resources out there to lassoo and bring together. It's the kind of stuff I like doing. So come on over and see the new page, but it's a work in progress, so watch out for the scaffolding.

The whole history of music is here inside

I'm looking forward to Isaac Karabtchevsky & the Petrobras Symphony's new DVD of A Foresta do Amazonas. Here's a great quote from the maestro, from Joao Sampaio's Para Falar de Musica blog:

“Nenhuma obra dele me marcou tanto como A Floresta do Amazonas”, diz Karabtchevsky em seu camarim, saboreando uma salada entre o concerto e a sessão noturna de gravação. “É um Villa-Lobos moderno, que não perde seu contato com o folclore mas se deixa impregnar por Stravinski e as inovações do modernismo. Toda a história da música está aqui dentro. A série dodecafônica, o piano que lembra John Cage, as citações da nova corrente modernista, Ravel, Bartok. E de repente, tudo desaparece e dá lugar a uma melodia maravilhosa, a um orgasmo romântico”, diz.

The machine translation from Google is awkward, but I think I get the gist of what he's saying:

"No work it marked me as much as The Forest of the Amazon," says Karabtchevsky in his dressing room, a tasting salad between the concert and night recording session. "It's a modern Villa-Lobos, which do not lose your contact with the folklore but is left to impregnate by Stravinski and innovations of modernism. The whole history of music is here inside. The series dodecafônica the piano reminiscent John Cage, the citations of the new current modernist, Ravel, Bartok. And suddenly, everything disappears and gives rise to a wonderful melody, a romantic orgasm, "he says.

There's more on the DVD project at the Sopranois blog.

January Concerts

Happy New Year from The Villa-Lobos Magazine. The coming year promises to be the best ever for live Villa-Lobos concerts around the world. Go to the Villa-Lobos Concert Calendar to see the concerts coming up in 2008.

Highlights for January 2008 include the first VL concert I've come across in India, the Cuarteto Latinoamericano in Santa Barbara, the Tarab Cello Ensemble in Florida, the Jacques Thibaud Trio in Germany, and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performing BB#9 in Vienna & Berlin. There's something for everyone, all over the place!

Villa-Lobos's Addresses & Timelines

In a 1999 article in Brasiliana, Maria Augusta Machado da Silva provides a series of short notes providing information on certain aspects of Villa-Lobos’s life. Speaking about VL's addresses, she says that "...late in life [he] liked to say he had in fact three: Rio de Janeiro, the airplane, and Paris."

In my article "Heitor and Lucilia At Home", I discuss the home of Villa-Lobos and his first wife in Rio de Janeiro, Rua Didimo #10, where they lived from 1919 to 1936.

Thanks to Google Lab's new search technology, you can see important locations from a search of Villa-Lobos's life on a Google map. This isn't perfect: the Naxos Records site shows up high on a Google Search for "Heitor Villa-Lobos", but in this view it results in the Google map with a pin at the Greek island of Naxos. References to President Getulio Vargas and the work Alvorado na Floresta Tropical show up on the map at the two Rio Grande do Sul towns of Getulio Vargas and Alvorada. But you can get a feel for the most important cities of VL's life on this map: Paris, Rio, Sao Paulo, New York and Los Angeles are all there.

Another cool new way of looking at Google search results is the Timeline view. This one is limited to Villa-Lobos's lifetime (1887-1959), and here's one for the important years of the 1920s. As Google Labs improves their search and presentation algorithms, we'll have new ways of looking at the Timeline of Villa-Lobos's life. Meanwhile, check out the Cronologia Illustrada - the Illustrated Time-Line at the new Museu Villa-Lobos website, with lots of pictures. And the Villa-Lobos Timeline at The Villa-Lobos Website is starting to come together with some useful content.

Piano Music by Joanna Brzezińska-Mauer

Joanna Brzezińska-Mauer's 2007 Villa-Lobos piano disc on Claves in Switzerland has been well-reviewed. You can hear a track - Branquina - in RealAudio at the Arte.tv site.

The disc includes both the first and second suites from A Prole do Bebê (The Baby’s Family), along with Suite Floral, Op. 97, and the composer's version for piano of Choros #1.

Brzezińska-Mauer's website is really excellent. You can listen to full tracks and excerpts from the Villa-Lobos disc, along with a concert video of Le petit boeuf de plombe.

You can buy Brzezińska-Mauer's Villa-Lobos: Piano Music at Amazon.com.

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM: January 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.

January 07: 20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos

January 08: 13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi:
Antonin DVORÁK - Humoresque em sol bemol maior Op.101, No.7. Yo-Yo Ma (violoncelo). Itzhak Perlman (violino). Orquestra Sinfônica de Boston. Reg.: Seiji Osawa / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - "Poco adagio" do Concerto para piano No.5. Cristina Ortiz (piano). Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Reg.: Miguel Gomes-Martínez. / Pyotr Ilyitch TCHAIKOVSKY - "Valsa: Allegro Moderato" da Sinfonia No.5 em mi menor, Op.64. Orquestra Filarmônica Jovem de Boston. Reg.: Benjamin Zander. / Claude DEBUSSY - Le jet d'eau. Orquestra Sinfônica da BBC. Reg.: Thierry Fischer.

January 12: 13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leói:
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART - "Minueto: Allegreto" do Quinteto para cordas em ré, K 593. Lawrence Power (viola). Karol Szymanowski Quartet. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - "O Trenzinho do Caipira" da Bachianas brasileiras No.2. Orquestra Sinfônica Petrobrás Pró Musica. Reg.: Roberto Tibiriçá. / Frédéric CHOPIN - Fantasia em fá menor Op.49. Maria João Pires (piano) / Jean SIBELIUS - Rakastava. Violaine Lucas (soprano). Rigoberto Marin-Polop (baixo). Coro de Câmara Accentus. Reg.: Eric Ericson.

January 13: 07:00 DESPERTE COM OS CLÁSSICOS:
BACH/ BUSONI - Prelúdio e Fuga em ré maior, BWV 532. Emil Gilels (piano)/ VIVALDI - Concerto em lá maior, RV 552, "Per ecco lontano". Christophe Coin (violoncelo). Il Giardino Armonico. Dir.: Giovanni Antonini/ VILLA-LOBOS - Prelúdio nº 1. Yves Storms (violão). RAVEL - La Valse. Orquestra Nova Philharmonia. Reg.: Lorin Maazel.

January 13:
19:00 NOVO MUNDO - A Música das Américas:
Carlos CHÁVEZ - Sinfonia Índia. The New World Simphony. Dir.: Michel Tilson Thomas./ Heitor VILLA LOBOS - Amazonas. Orquestra Sinfônica Simon Bolivar da Venezuela. Dir.: Henrique Arturo Dimecke./ Alberto GINASTERA - Concerto para cordas. I Musici de Montreal. Yuri Turovsky. / Augustin Barrios MANGORÉ - Julia Florida. Sharon Isbin. (violão).

January 14: 20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos:

January 20: 23:00 NOTURNO:
Alberto NEPOMUCENO - Quarteto n° 3. Quarteto de cordas da Cidade de São Paulo. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS -Trio n° 1 em dó menor. Artistrio.

January 21:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos.

January 25: 13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi:
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART - Sonata para piano No.3 em si maior KV 281 (189f). Karl Engel (piano). / Max BRUCH - Romance em fá maior para viola e orquestra Op.85. Gerard Caussé (viola). Orquestra da Ópera de Lion. Reg.: Kent Nagano. / Johann Joachim QUANTZ - Concerto em mi bemol maior para corno da caccia, oboé, cordas e continuo. Ludwig Güttler (corno da caccia). Andreas Lorenz (oboé). Solistas da Virtuosi Saxonae. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - "Ária (cantiga)" da Bachianas brasileiras No.4. Flavio Varani (piano).

January 26: 10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música:
Luís Álvares PINTO - Te deum. XVIII-21 Musiques des Lumières./ Manuel DIAS DE OLIVEIRA - Tractus para Missa dos Pré-santificados/ Te Deum Laudamus. Ensemble Turicum / VILLA-LOBOS - Remeiro de São Francisco. / Viola quebrada / Improviso no. 7. Robert Buonfiglio (harmônica de boca). Orquestra de Câmara de Nova York. Dir.: Gerard Schwartz/ Milton NASCIMENTO - Canção amiga. Ricardo AMADO (violino), Flávio Augusto (piano)./ VILLA-LOBOS - Prelúdio de Bachianas 4/ Modinha / Melodia Sentimental. Carlos Barbosa Lima (violão)/ Laurindo ALMEIDA / Dante VARELA - Batuque. Carlos Barbosa Lima (violão)/ Ernani AGUIAR - Sonatina no. 2. Ernani Aguiar (piano).

January 28: 20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos.

January 29: 13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi:
Robert SCHUMANN - Fantasiestücke Op.73 para violoncelo e piano. Antonio Meneses (violoncelo). Gerard Wyss (piano). / Franz SCHUBERT - "Allegro vivace" da Deux Marches caractéristiques em dó maior, D 968 B, No.2. Yaara Tal e Andreas Groethuysen (piano). / Francesco CAVALLI - Lamento di Clori. Frederica Von Stade (mezzo-soprano) Orquestra de Câmara Escocesa. Reg.: Raymond Leppard. / Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Desesperance. Davi Graton (violino). Scheilla Glaser (piano).

Another Nonetto post

It's amazing what comes up on the web when you keep digging. I had seen a reference to the CD "Villa-Lobos em Paris", conducted by Gil Jardim, but the track list missed out the most important piece, the Nonetto. Here's the disc on the Brazilian music retailer Causa Sonora.

Jardim, it turns out, wrote the book O Estilo Antropofágico de Heitor Villa-Lobos, which I talked about in the previous post. He conducts an impressive group of musicians:

Quatuor
Toninho Carrasqueira, flauta - Dilson Florêncio, sax - Luba Klevsotova, harpa - Maria Elisa Risarto, celesta - Mara Campos, Reg. Preparadora do Coro Feminino - Gil Jardim, Regente.

A Prole do Bebê nº1
Nahim Marum, piano

Epigramas Irônicos e Sentimentais
Claudia Ricchitelli, soprano - Nahim Marum, piano

Pensées D'Enfant
Claudia Ricchitelli, soprano - Toninho Carrasqueira, flauta - Sérgui Burgani, clarinete - Watson Clis, violoncelo

Nonetto
Toninho Carrasqueira, flauta - Luis Carlos Justi, oboé - Sérgio Burgani, clarinete - Aloysio Fagerlande, fagote - Dilson Florêncio, sax - Silas Lima, harpa - Maria Elisa Risarto, celesta - Paulo Braga, piano - Elizabeth Del Grande, Ricardo Bologna e Eduardo Gianesella, percussão - Mara Campos, Regente Preparadora do Coro Misto - Gil Jardim, Regente.

The group of musicians includes the members of the Quinteto Villa-Lobos.

So, another disc with the Nonetto shows up, just when I'm complaining the loudest about not having one at hand.

O Estilo Antropofágico de Heitor Villa-Lobos

A new book/CD-ROM has been published in Brazil: O Estilo Antropofágico de Heitor Villa-Lobos by Gil Jardim. This comes out of Jardim’s research at the University of Sao Paulo in 2002.

The book looks at the influence of Bach and Stravinsky on Villa-Lobos’s work, with a special focus on Bachianas Brasileiras #7 (according to this May 2006 article in Folha da Bahia.) I look forward to a closer examination of the book and CD-ROM, and puzzling through it with the aid of Google’s machine translation.

I’m hoping that I don’t get too many more translations like this one I came across in the Folha da Bahia article:

Fugas do cravo bem temperado = Leakage of carnation and temperate.

I don’t know enough about Portuguese to know why this happened. Machine translation is a work in progress, I guess. I’m not complaining; I couldn’t do so much of my Villa-Lobos work without it.

Nonetto (Impressao rapida de todo o Brasil)

The Nonetto is currently without a modern recording easily available in North America and Europe. I hope this will change shortly. Earlier this year, Conductor Adrian Leaper performed the Nonetto in Madrid with the RTVE Symphony & Chorus. Here is a reference to the concert, which was recently played on Spanish radio:

SÁBADO 17 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2007

06:00 ORQUESTA SINFÓNICA Y CORO DE RTVE
CICLO COMPOSITORES IBEROAMERICANOS (XI)
DIRECCIÓN: ADRIÁN LEAPER
ORQUESTA: ORQUESTA SINFÓNICA DE RTVE
Desde el Teatro Monumental de Madrid, actuación de la Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE que, bajo la dirección de Adrián Leaper, interpreta "Sesemaya" de Silvestre Revueltas, "Nonetto, para coro y orquesta" de Heitor Villa-Lobos y "Serenata concertante Op. 40" de Juan Orrego Salas.

There is a new Brazilian version of the Nonetto, from the Sociedade Musicale Bachiana Brasileira, available on CD and DVD. You can hear the Nonetto online on the excellent Bachiana Brasileira website (it's on the CD Obras Raras na Música Brasileira de Concerto - choose the final track in the Flash player.) The DVD is called Quadros de Uma Alma Brasileira, and you can preview four of the tracks online in low or high resolution. Unfortunately, the Nonetto video isn't online, but you can see and hear portions of the work on the Documentario (special features) portion of the site.

The works on the DVD were recorded almost exactly a year ago, December 15, 2005, at the Sala Cecília Meireles.

This is a very, very exciting project. I can't find a place on the website where you can order the CDs or DVDs directly, but read this recent post in Tumbling Villa-Lobos to find out about a Brazilian onine retailer who sells the DVD.

The CDs and DVDs on the Bachiana Brasileira website include many other rare Brazilian works; I'll be featuring it in a future post on the Magazine.

Nostalgia Alert!

There are two famous recordings of the work from the 40s and 50s; it would be great if both were re-issued.

On a Capitol LP (CTL 7037), the Roger Wagner Chorale and the Concert Arts Ensemble performed two chamber works with chorus: the Quatour and the Nonetto. The sound on the disc was demonstration quality; the final movement of the Nonetto was included on Capitol SAL-9020 "Full Dimensional Sound: A Study in High Fidelity."

Here is a citation to a contemporary review:

Review: [Untitled]
Reviewed Work(s):

• Villa-Lobos: Nonetto, for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, Bassoon, Harp, Celesta, Battery, and Mixed Chorus; Quatuor, for Flute, Harp, Celesta, Alto Saxophone, and Women's Voices by The Roger Wagner Chorale and the Concert Arts Players, Roger Wagner, Villa-Lobos

Author(s) of Review: Richard F. Goldman
The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan., 1954), pp. 157-158

Villa-Lobos thought very highly of Roger Wagner and his singers. Here's a quote from the official RWC website:

"Roger Wagner deserves all my admiration for his dedicated work...a notable achievement in technique and sound as well as perfect interpretation."

The second disc, "Festival of Brazilian Music," was released as a 78 rpm album by RCA Victor: disc #LCT 1143. In the Nonetto, Hugh Ross conducts the Brazilian Festival Orchestra and the Schola Cantorum. The album also includes Bachianas Brasileiras #1 (with Walter Burle Marx conducting the Brazilian Festival Orchestra); the Quatour (with the great Brazilian soprano Elsie Houston, soprano and Ross/Brazilian Festival Quartet/Schola Cantorum); and Cancao do Careiro (sung by Elsie Houston, accompanied by Miguel, piano). This album was recorded in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art and the Commissioner General from Brazil. Another record number for this set is Victor DM-773(5).

Here's a short review from the May 19, 1941 issue of Time Magazine:

A Festival of Brazilian Music (Victor; 10 sides; $5.50). First big phonographic collection of works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil's No. i composer and one of the lustiest living. Beautifully recorded by Soprano Elsie Houston, the Schola Cantorum, conducted by Hugh Ross, a scratch orchestra under Burle Marx. Villa-Lobosities: a Bachiana Brasileira for eight cellos attempting to fuse the spirits of Bach and Brazil; a Nonetto for chorus and small orchestra, purporting to describe Brazil's geography.

So, besides the advantage of having the Nonetto on CD, a reissue of this set would provide us with another rarely heard work (the Quatuor), plus a chance to hear the legendary Elsie Houston.

Let's get to work on these re-issues, record companies!

**********

Check out this page on the Nonetto at the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website. It uses a new template for Villa-Lobos's works; some day in the future there will be a page on the site for each of the major works.

More Digitization

As exciting as the previous post on the Villa-Lobos home movies was, here's an even bigger story.

Earlier this week conditional approval was given for a new project costing R$867,000 (about $490,000), which will digitize the orchestral and chamber music scores of Villa-Lobos, and make them freely available online and on CD-ROM. The focus of the project will be on the Symphonies (none of which is easily available in study score format). A catalogue of the works in the project will have a print run of 1,800.

The project will take place in 2008, and will be complete in time for the 50th anniversary of Villa-Lobos's death in 2009.

Villa-Lobos Home Movies

This isn't a new story, but I hadn't heard about it yet. Fifty hours of home movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s have been donated by Villa-Lobos's family to the Museu Villa-Lobos. The films, according to the story, will show "the intimacy of the family." Apparently the Museum is planning to digitize the films, and make them available in 2008.

Also included in the donation are 100 scores and 300 unpublished photos.

Villa-Lobos Concerts

Twenty years ago, we were in the middle of the Villa-Lobos Centennial celebrations. Here's a New York Times article that shows what kind of activity there was in those days.

Now that Villa is 120, we're right back in another mini-boom of VL concerts. Villa's star has certainly risen these past few years! I've re-started the Villa-Lobos Concert Calendar, and the dates are filling up.

I'm struck by a number of things. First of all, the concerts are coming from around the world: Asia and Europe as well as the Americas. Secondly, it's no longer just about Bachianas Brasileiras #5. Once rare works are being programmed in multiple concerts. Next year you can hear the Ciranda das Sete Notas for Bassoon and Orchestra in New York, Berlin and Sydney, and the Saxophone Fantasy in Winnipeg, San Antonio and San Jose.

As I dig into the web more deeply, I'll be coming up with lots more concerts, especially from South America. Check the calendar regularly, so you can plan your Villa-Lobos listening. Also, send me a note about concerts I've missed.

Experiencing Villa-Lobos Schedule

The schedule for the international Experiencing Villa-Lobos Conference in Richmond VA has been published on the conference website. Besides the paper presentations, which I'm sure will be fascinating, here are some highlights:

• March 27, 2008, 8:00pm – Opening Concert featuring VCU faculty, alumni, and guest artists in Concert Hall (pianist Sonia Rubinsky will perform on this concert).
• March 28, 2008, 9:30-11:00am – Sonia Rubinsky piano master class in Concert Hall.
• March 28, 2008, 8:00pm – VCU Symphony Concert in Concert Hall featuring saxophonist Albert Regni.
• March 29, 2008, 1:30pm – 3:00pm – String Master Class featuring members of Cuarteto Latinoamericano in Concert Hall.
• March 29, 2008, 3:30pm – 5:00pm The Brazilian Guitar – from Villa-Lobos to the Present, featuring VCU faculty/alumni/students/guest artists in Concert Hall.
• March 29, 2008, 8:00pm - Closing concert by Cuarteto Latinoamericano in Concert Hall.
  

The Villa-Lobos credentials of Sonia Rubinsky and the Cuarteto Latinoamericano are really solid - I've posted many times about both over the years. I wasn't familiar with the work of saxophonist Albert Regni, but learned lots more from this excellent Sons of Sound website. Nice to put a face to one of the people involved in the Twin Peaks music I love. Regni is Principal Saxophonist with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Ballet Orchestras, and also Professor of Saxophone at The College of New Jersey.

Villa-Lobos wrote beautiful things for saxophone, and not just his 1948 Fantasia for soprano or tenor saxophone and chamber orchestra (which I assume Regni will perform with the VCU Orchestra in Richmond). There are also these important chamber works featuring the saxophone:

• the Sextuor Mystique, for flute, oboe, saxophone, harp, celesta and guitar (1917/1955)
• Choros #7 for flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, violin, and cello, with tam-tam ad lib. (1924)
• Choros #3 for clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, 3 horns, trombone, or for male chorus, or for both together (1925)
• the Nonetto, scored for flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, celesta, harp, piano, percussion, and a mixed chorus (1923)

And you can find many, many amazing bits for saxophone in the orchestral works. One of my favourites is in the first suite from the Descobrimento do Brasil (1938).

Native Brazilian Music

The Library of Congress 2006 National Recording Registry includes this recording project from the time of the Good Neighbour Policy.

Native Brazilian Music. Recorded under the supervision of Leopold Stokowski. (1942)

Leopold Stokowski and his All-American Youth Orchestra performed in Rio de Janeiro as part of a goodwill tour to South America in the summer of 1940. Prior to his visit to Brazil, Stokowski asked composer Heitor Villa-Lobos to help him collect and record popular Brazilian music, of which the conductor was a great admirer. Villa-Lobos assembled an elite group of musicians, including Pixinguinha, Donga, Cartola, Jararaca, Ratinho and José Espinguela. Forty recordings were made onboard the ship carrying Stokowski and the orchestra. Seventeen of the recordings, embracing musical styles such as sambas, batucadas, macumba and emboladas, were released in 1942 by Columbia Records on a 78-rpm album, “Native Brazilian Music".

The story of this recording project is told by Daniella Thompson in Stalking Stokowski. What a great example of research in action!

Here's a review and story from Time Magazine, March 16, 1942, following the record's original release. The project is also mentioned in Harold Lewis's Presença de Villa Lobos essay at the Villa-Lobos Website.

So we're left waiting for Sony to release this music on CD - I wonder if that will ever happen? In the meantime, here's a link to the original 16 tracks from the Som Barato MP3 blog. I'll continue watching for the 78s (or the Museu Villa-Lobos LP) on eBay.

Villa-Lobos in the blogosphere

This is neat, but I'm not sure exactly what real significance it has, if any. The Trend Tool on the icerocket.com search engine site shows you how many blog posts it finds for up to three search terms. In the last three months, there were 5,774 blog posts with the search term "Jobim" (an average of 64 per day - sorry, I mean 64.16 per day). For "Villa-Lobos", 1,542 searches, an average of 17 per day. For "Milhaud", 456, or 5 per day.

It's hard to see any trends over this period. I'll check out the numbers in early 2008, and see if they're changing.

By the way, was November 25 "Blog About Darius Milhaud Day"?

Here's another look at Villa-Lobos in the blogosphere, from BlogScope. This is a graph of VL posts in the past six months.

A night of Brazilian classics

Performed by the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Blair, "A Night of Classics" was recorded live at Saint John's Smith Square, London, on 6 May 2004. The soloists were Fabio Zanon (guitar), Linda Bustani (piano), Claudia Ricitelli (soprano) and David Curry (tenor). You can listen in MP3 format.

Piano concertos in Cuba

It's raining piano concertos in Cuba. Following a very successful series of concerts and an award-winning disc of the five Villa-Lobos concertos, some of the participants are planning a series of the five Beethoven concertos in Havana, with the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra (OSM).

Villa-Lobos on BBC Radio 3

I've been posting upcoming Villa-Lobos performances on Cultura FM, which is an excellent source of Brazilian music. Here are a few interesting items coming up on BBC Radio3:

On BBC Radio 3's Through the Night, which often includes interesting concerts from Europe and beyond. November 27, 2007, at 5.56am (UK time):
Villa-Lobos, Heitor (1887-1959): Bachianas Brasileiras No 9 - The Amadeus Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra in Poznan. Agnieszka Duczmal (conductor).
And later that morning: 6.56am:
Villa-Lobos, Heitor (1887-1959): Song of the Black Swan. Henry-David Varema (cello), Heiki Mätlik (guitar)

And this looks interesting!:
19:00
Performance on 3
28 November 2007
The Britten Sinfonia at the London Jazz Festival
With Martin Handley. One of Britain's leading chamber orchestras morphs into a big band for a jazz-inspired programme performed last Saturday as part of the London Jazz Festival. And one of Brazil's most celebrated vocalists, Luciana Souza, adds her brilliantly elastic vocals to the Miles Davis sound, with Radio 3's first New Generation jazz artist, Gwilym Simcock, contributing a new piece of his own.

Luciana Souza (vocals), Romero Lubambo (guitar), Alex Acuna (percussion), Britten Sinfonia, Gil Goldstein (conductor)

Villa Lobos, arr. Goldstein: Bachianais Brasilerias Nos 5 and 6, with much other music by Bach, Mompou, Gismonti, Jobim, Rodrigo, and others.

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM: December 2007

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: the live performance of the first piano concerto performed by Nelson Freiere on the 18th (repeated on the 19th).

December 1:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música: VILLA-LOBOS - A lenda do caboclo./ Ondulando. Sonia Rubinsky (piano). / Suíte para cordas. I Musici de Montreal. Dir.: Yuli Turovsky./ Jaime ZENAMON - Fantasias. Matias de Oliveira Pinto (violoncelo). Jaime Zenamon (violão) Radamés GNATTALI - Brasiliana no. 8. Sérgio&Odair Assad/ Egberto GISMONTI - Palhaço.Charlie Haden (contrabaixo). Jan Garbarek (saxofone) Egberto Gismonti (piano).

December 3:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Trio n° 2, para piano e cello Monique Duphil, (piano), Lenuta Cinlei, (violino), Florian Ebersberg( cello) -Trio Villa-Lobos, Caracas./ Choros n° 7 Chamber Music Palm Beach./ Três Marias ( Alnitah, Alnilan, Nintika) Guiomar Novaes, (piano).

December 10:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: O Mundo das Crianças: A Prole do Bebe n° 2 - Francette e Piá Piano.

December 13:
15:00 TARDE CULTURA - Música e Notícia - Fabio Malavoglia: Entre outras obras, o Tema com Variações da Sonata op. 25 para bandolim e violão de Mauro GIUGLIANI, o Concerto da Camera em dó sustenido menor,op. 10 n° 2 de ALKAN e "Uirapurú", balé para orquestra de VILLA-LOBOS.

December 15:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música: Mário TAVARES - Quinteto para instrumentos de sopro. Quinteto Villa Lobos. / 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/ VILLA-LOBOS - New York Skyline. Orquestra Sinfônica da Rádio de Suttgart. Dir.: Carl St Clair.

December 17:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS - com Turíbio Santos: Duo para oboé e fagote Petra Fluhr, oboé Ulrich Freund (fagote). /Bachianas Brasileiras n° 6 para flauta e fagote, Joachim Schmitz (flauta). Ulrich Freund, (fagote)./ Trio para oboé clarineta e fagote. Petra Fluhr (oboé). Johannes Moog. (clarineta). Ulrich Freund (fagote)/ Sonata Fantasia n° 1 para violino e piano. Ngagul Tumangelor (violino). Bojidar Noev (piano).

December 18:
13:00 DELICATESSEN - Kika Leoi: VIVALDI - Concerto em si bemol, Op.4 No.1. Arte dei Suonatori. / VILLA-LOBOS - Impressões Seresteiras. João Carlos Assis Brasil (piano). / Michael TIPPETT - Little Music. Guildhall String Ensemble. / GRIEG - "Sostenuto - Allegro Vivace" do Quarteto para cordas em fá maior. Quarteto de cordas de Oslo.

14:00 PIANÍSSIMO - O piano, seu repertório, seus intérpretes: STRAUSS: BURLESCA / VILLA-LOBOS: CONCERTO N°1 - NELSON FREIRE (ao vivo). Apresentação: Pianista e Professor Gilberto Tinetti. (repeated December 19, 01:00)

December 22:
15:00 MÚSICA DE CÂMARA: Richard WAGNER - Abertura de Tristão e Isolda. Ensemble Peter Buck./ Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Ciranda das sete notas e aria das bachianas n° 5. Franck Morelli (fagote). Benjamin Verdery (violão)./ Charles IVES - Quarteto de Cordas n° 1. Emerson String Quartet. / Isaac ALBENIZ - Sonata n° 3. Albert Guinorat (piano)./ Carl Phillip Emanuel BACH - Concerto para Oboé, cordas e baixo continuo em si bemol maior. Burkhard Glaetzner (oboé). Nues Bachisches Collegium Musicum Leipzig.

16:30 OSESP AO VIVO - Gravações exclusivas realizadas na Sala São Paulo: John Neschiling, regente / Dezsö Ránki, piano. Silvestre Revueltas - Sensemayá. / Béla Bartók - Concerto n° 2 para piano. / Heitor Villa-Lobos - Bachianas brasileiras n° 4. / Ottorino Respighi - Pini di Roma. (Repeated December 23, 12:30)

December 24:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Quarteto (1928) - Joachim Schmitz (flauta). Petra Fluhr (oboé). Johannes Moog (clarineta). Uhrich Freund (fagote). Sonata Fantasia n° 2 para violino e piano - Ngagul Tumangelov (violino). Bojidor Noev (piano). Trio n° 2, para piano e cello. Monique Duphil (piano). Florian Ebersberg (cello). Trio Villa-Lobos, Caracas . Choros n° 7 - Chamber Music Palm Beach

December 25 (Merry Christmas!):
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações. Heitor VILLA-LOBOS -Trio para cordas./ Mozart Camargo GUARNIERI - trio para cordas. / Amaral VIERA - Quinteto para piano e cordas op.297. Ensemble Capriccio. Chouhei Min (violino). Korey Konkol(viola). Mina Fisher(cello). Artistas convidados:Max Barros (piano). William Schrickel(contra -baixo).

December 26:
07:00 DESPERTE COM OS CLÁSSICOS: KREISLER - Tamborim Chines. Jin Li (violino). Geoffrey Parsons (piano)./ COPLAND - Corral Nocturne, de Rodeo. Orquestra Sinfônica de St. Louis. Reg.: Leonard Slatkin./ RAVEL - Pavana para uma infanta morta. Orquestra Nova Philharmonia. Reg.: Lorin Maazel./ VILLA-LOBOS - Bachianas Brasileiras n° 5. Netania Davrath (soprano). Carl Stern (violoncelo). Orquestra Filarmônica de Nova Iorque. Reg.: Leonard Bernstein.

December 27:
06:00 A ESCRITA DE CÂMARA - Solistas e pequenas formações : Silvestre REVUETAS - Quarteto n°4. Quarteto n°2. / Alberto GINASTERA Quarteto n°1 op. 20. / Heitor VILLA -LOBOS -Quarteto N 17. Quarteto Latino Americano.

December 28:
13:00 DELICATESSEN com Kika Leoi: MOZART - "Allegro" do Divertimento III K.439b. The New World Basset Horn Trio. / VILLA-LOBOS - "Cirandas" das Bachianas brasileiras No.5. Lydia Kennedy, Frans Van Gurp (violões). / STRAVINSKY - Petrouchka, Burlesque em quatro cenas. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Reg.: Ricardo Chailly. / Georg WAGENSEIL - "Adágio" do Concerto para trombone e orquestra em mi bemol maior. Branimir Slokar (trombone). Orquestra de Câmara de Lausanne. Reg.: Jean-Marie Auberson.

December 29:
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música: Cesar CAMARGO MARIANO - Cristal. Yo-Yo MA (violoncelo). César Camargo Mariano (piano)/ VILLA-LOBOS - A lenda do caboclo. .Sérgio ASSAD - Menino Yo-Yo MA (violoncelo). Duo Assad. / Tom JOBIM - Lenda. Orquestra. Dir.: Roberto Minczuk. / 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) .

12:00 CONCERTOS DO MEIO DIA com o maestro Walter Lourenção: As Bachianas Brasileiras n° 7 de VILLA-LOBOS por Betin Günes e a Orquestra Sinfônica de Izmir

December 30:
07:00 DESPERTE COM OS CLÁSSICOS: BEETHOVEN - Andante Cantabile con moto, da sinfonia n°2 em ré maior, op. 36. Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo. Reg.: John Neschling./ BACH - Ária e Variações de 1 a 5, das Variações Goldberg, BWV 988. Andras Schiff (piano). / ALBÉNIZ -El Corpus en Sevilla, de "Iberia". Orquerstra Sinfônica de Cincinatti. Reg.: Jesús López-Cobos. / VILLA-LOBOS - Sexteto Místico. Antonio Carrasqueira (flauta). Luís Carlos Justi (oboé). Dilson Florêncio (saxofone). Cristina Braga (harpa). Maria Teresa Madeira (celesta). Turíbio Santos

December 31:
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos: Bachianas Brasileiras n° 4 - Pro Arte Guitar Trio./ Modinhas e Canções Vol. 1 e Vol.2 - Ane Maria Bondi (soprano). François Petit (piano).

Holiday shopping at the Villa-Lobos Store

Time to think about ordering Villa-Lobos gifts online, to place under the tree. Go to the Villa-Lobos Store for ideas.

Elsie Houston on the web

I'm surprised I haven't come across this site before: The Annotated Ends Her Life: Elsie Houston. The Brazilian-born singer was a famous interpreter of Villa's songs.

"I was listening in my car to a CD of recorded opera singers from the 1930s and 40s titled, A Record of Singing. A few tracks in, amid conventional soprano interpretations of notable opera pieces, a stunningly weird song--pounding rhythmic piano and a swooping, shrieking voice. "What the hell?" I thought. I noted the track number. Five minutes later the back window of my Subaru wagon shattered.

"When I got home I looked up the track in the CD booklet. It was a Villa Lobos song (14 Serestas No. 8: Cancão do Carreiro) recorded by Elsie Houston and Pablo Miguel (piano) in 1941."

This is a fascinating story, very well told. Above: one of Carl Van Vechten's famous photos of the singer.

Houston is featured in the 1940 Time article on Villa-Lobos Choros in Manhattan. And more in this blog post; it will take me a while to decipher the Portuguese. The surrealist connection is fascinating.

Translating The Villa-Lobos Magazine

Now that I have Google Analytics turned on for the site, I'll be able to learn a lot about visitors to the Villa-Lobos Magazine. But it's clear already that Villa-Lobos is a global brand. Visitors to the Magazine last weekend come from 15 countries. In first place is Brazil, then the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, the U.K., and Italy. Other countries include the Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, Belgium, Romania, Russia, Cyprus, and Japan.

I've long wanted my VL sites to be available in other languages - especially Portuguese. The state of real-time machine translation on the web has evolved over the years, and I'm pleased to be able to offer the Magazine in Portuguese, French, Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and German. Click on your favourite language in the Translate the Villa-Lobos Magazine section on the top-right section of the site.

I'm anxious to hear feedback about the translations, since my own other language skills are terrible. I can follow a hockey game on the radio in French, but that's mainly player's names and "...et le but!!!!" Let me know how this works. Go Habs!

Rádio UOL

Here is something really, really cool. Rádio UOL from Brazil gives you access to some fine recordings of Villa-Lobos. When you click on the link above, you'll get a list of VL albums. Click on the little page to the left of each album, to get a list of tracks:

Then click on the track you want to hear, or OUVIR TODAS AS MÚSICAS, at the bottom, to hear the whole album. The album above, by the way, is As Cirandas De Villa-Lobos, by pianist
Homero De Magalhães.

I also have enjoyed listening to the Three Cello Concertos, with the Orquestra Sinfõnica de Galícia, cellist Antônio Meneses, and conductor Víctor Pablo Pérez. These are beautiful pieces, not very well known.

There's lots more to explore - not the least of which would be the popular music of Brazil. Thanks to UOL!

Assobio a Jato on the Web

You can hear one of VL's great chamber works, from a September 2007 concert by Flutissimi at McGill University that's available on the CBC Radio 2 Concerts on Demand website.

Assobio a Jato is in three movements:

• Allegro non Troppo
• Adagio
• Vivo

Timothy Hutchins plays flute, and the cellist is Brian Manker. The above links should play in a separate Windows Media Player window.

I love the Concerts on Demand archive page on the CBC site. It's starting to fill up with some really interesting concerts - especially after the Banff Internationl String Quartet Competition earlier this year. Also, check out the Angela Hewitt and Marc-André Hamelin concerts.

VL on Cultura FM - November 2007

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.

Nov. 10, 2007
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música: VILLA LOBOS - Uirapurú. Orquestra Sinfônica da Paraíba. Dir.: Eleazar de Carvalho./ Egberto GISMONTI - Memória e Fado. / Água e Vinho. Marcos Vinícius (violão)/ Ricardo TACUCHIAN - Transparências. Richard Albagli (vibrafone). Max Lifchitz (piano)/ Claudio SANTORO - Estudo n° 1/ Duas Invenções a Duas Vozes / Três Prelúdios. Gilda Oswaldo Cruz (piano)

Nov. 11, 2007
19:00 NOVO MUNDO - A Música das AméricasHeitor VILLA-LOBOS - Choros n° 4. Quinteto Villa-lobos./ Aaron COPLAND - Suite Billy The Kid. Orquestra Sinfonica da radio Tcheca de Brastilava sob direção de Stepehn Gunzenhauser. / Francisco MIGNONE - Maracatu do Chico Rei. Orquestra Sinfoncia do estado de São Paulo sob direção de John Neschiling.

Nov. 12, 2007
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio SantosSymphony n° 2 Ascenção Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart e Dança do Índio Branco: Jose Ed. Martins (piano).

Nov. 15, 2007
22:00 SALA DE CONCERTO.VILLA-LOBOS - Descobrimento do Brasil (Quatro suites). Orquestra Nacional da Radiodifusão Francesa. Reg.: Heitor Villa-Lobos. / GUERRA PEIXE - Museu da Inconfidência. Orquestra Sinfônica Jovem de Milwaukee. Reg.: Manuel Prestamo.

Nov. 19, 2007
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos.Sonata n° 2 ,Cello e piano ,Wolfgang Haufer (cello). Steven Swedish (piano). Suíte para voz e violino - A Menina e a Canção. Quero ser Alegre. Sertaneja. Jennifer Foster (soprano). Benny Kim (violino). 5 Prelúdios. Jodacil Damasceno

Nov. 24, 2007
10:00 CIRANDA - Academia Brasileira de Música.VILLA-LOBOS - Concerto para violão. Sharon Isbin (violão). Fialrmônica de Nova York. Dir.: José Serebrier./ Egberto GISMONTI - A fala da paixão. Sujeito a guincho. / Francisco MIGNONE - Valsas choro 1 a 6 Francisco Mignone (piano) / CAMARGO GUARNIERI - Suite mirim. Beatriz Balzi (piano).

Nov. 25, 2007
19:00 NOVO MUNDO - A Música das Américas.Alberto GINASTERA - Suite Panambi. Filarmonia Hungarica sob direção de Zoltan Rozsnyai./ Heitor VILLA-LOBOS - Sinfonia n° 6: sobre as linhas das montanhas do Brasil./ Guilhermo RIFFO - Suite Ritual de la Tierra. Orquestra Sinfonia nacional Juvenil do Chile. Dir.: Guilhermo Riffo.

Nov. 26, 2007
20:00 O BRASIL DE VILLA-LOBOS com Turíbio Santos.O Guia pratico por Clara Sverner- 11 cadernos.

Anna Stella Schic complete piano works

I recently blogged the news about the last two volumes of Sonia Rubinsky's 8-CD set of VL piano music. Here is another version finished: Anna Stella Schic's 7-CD set on Solstice Records.

Thanks to Borris Mayer for this. He also mentions that EMI is re-releasing the Batiz set of the Bachianas Brasileiras, complete. Here's the link at the UK Amazon site. While we wait for it in North America, why not download Barbara Hendricks' excellent BB#5 from Amazon MP3.

Dean in Monterey

I'm off to present at the Internet Librarian 2007 Conference in Monterey, CA. I may not get a chance to post about VL much in the next week, but maybe I can listen to some music on the plane.

The Villa-Lobos Store

After many years as an Amazon Associate at the HVL Website, I've finally taken the time to put together a proper Villa-Lobos Store. Of course, Amazon provides amazing tools now. This looks like it took a lot more time to build than it actually did. Does 40 minutes sound right?

Andy Summers at the Villa-Lobos Museum

Police guitarist Andy Summers visited the Villa-Lobos Museum in Rio de Janeiro in February 2003.

"Like many guitarists I have lived with this music through most of my playing life. Lived with these seminal works by Villa Lobos that sit in your head like a monolithic presence. Like a place you know and love, it is music that you invariably return to once again to take in its exotic aroma."

Here is his really interesting interview with the VL Museum Director Turibio Santos.

I've been listening to Summers' One Train Later on his OTL MySpace page. This is really cool! I love his story about Roxanne starting out as a Bossa Nova. Buy the book - you'll find out the significance of "The Farting Zombies".

October 16, 2007 concert in Nicosia, Cyprus

The Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen will be playing Brazilian music in Cyprus, I learn from this story in the Cyprus Mail.

His recital in Cyprus will comprise works by Alberto Nepomuceno, Alexandre Levy, Gnattali, Braga, Villa-Lobos, Nazareth, Dutra, Oswald, Guarnieri, Claudio Santoro, Francisco Mignone and Liszt.Arnaldo Cohen Recital. October 16, 2007. PASYDY Auditorium, Nicosia. 8:30pm. Tel.22-663871

New Sonia Rubinsky Recordings on the way

Pianist Sonia Rubinsky, recording session in Paris.
Photo courtesy of Nikolaos Samaltanos

It's fun checking out all of the VL activity on the web that I've missed out in the past couple of years. It's great to see that volumes 7 and 8 of Sonia Rubinsky's Naxos cycle of the complete Villa-Lobos piano music are slated for release soon. More information here.

Meanwhile, volume six is still only recently in release, and I've been enjoying listening to it on the Naxos Music Library. Here's the excellent liner notes, by James Melo.

Cristina Ortiz and Choros #11

I added a new CD profile to a new section of the HVL Website. It's a favourite disc of mine: the Ondine recording of Choros #11. This piece is one of those big, sprawling orchestral works Villa was turning out in the mid- to late-20s, like the Choros 8, 9 and 10, (though #11 has a large piano part - it's pretty much a piano concerto). None of these works is well-known; all are very rarely performed or recorded.

I came across this entry in Cristina Ortiz's journal on her website. She played Choros #11 in Brazil in November 2005, and was planning to record it with BIS in the following February. Here's what she had to say about the work:

"When asked to learn Villa-Lobos’ Choros # 11, the only information I had was its length, all of 65 minutes! But the moment I read two or three of the most beautiful themes he ever wrote, my decision was made and I never flinched: the pleasure I would get from playing them, carried me all the way! "

These were the concerts in São Paulo:

17, 18, 19 November 2005, São Paulo, BrazilSala São PauloOrquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São PauloJohn Neschling, conductorCristina Ortiz, piano
VILLA-LOBOS "Chôros" no 11, for Piano and Orchestra

In any case, the BIS recording never seems to have happened. I will have to send off a query, and see if it's "in the can", waiting to be released. That would be cool.

In the meantime, there's a newly-released VL Chamber Music CD from Cristina Ortiz, which I will glom onto and write about real soon.

The Villa-Lobos Web Machine Grinds On

We're finally starting to move over the original content from the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website - first up in 1995 (!) at www.rdpl.red-deer.ab.ca/villa - and then at www.rdpl.org/villa.

The site has a new domain: http://www.villalobos.ca/ - check it out.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking about how to migrate the many blog postings here at the Villa-Lobos Magazine. This blog goes way back, too. The first post was six years ago, in October 2001.

Because I can't focus, there's a third site: Tumbling Villa-Lobos, at villa-lobos.tumblr.com, which I set up because I liked the look of tumblr.com (and I still do). Check it out!

The new site is going up

Go to the new domain for the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website - that's www.villalobos.ca.

It's up and running on Drupal (thanks, Cory!), and I'll be moving over all of the original content Real Soon Now (some of it goes back to the early 90's!).

Then it's time for new content!

The Magazine

Hi all:

This is my first post to the VL Magazine in quite a while. In 2004 I ran out of time to do my Villa-Lobos work, always a free-time project from the beginning of this magazine in October 2001, and before that, the Villa-Lobos Website, which began in 1995.

Will I be able to resurrect either project? I'm not sure yet, but I want everyone to know the Villa-Lobos Website files (still a valuable resource, I think) have been moved to a new domain: http://www.villalobos.ca. I will be putting together proper referral pages from the old site - www.rdpl.org/villa - real soon.

Meanwhile, my great IT Librarian Cory Stier has constructed an awesome new Drupal-based Open Source website for my library, so I'm hoping I can move the VL Magazine posts that are still relevant to the new site.

New posts? We'll see.

Cheers from Red Deer...

Dean

More Villa on the radio...

France Musiques is the name of the French National Radio's classical music network. Their website includes a number of pages of interest, beginning with an interesting biography that emphasizes Villa's French connection. For example, I didn't know that Albert Roussel helped Villa become a member, in 1923, of the Societe Internationale de Musique Contemporaine.

Speaking of contemporary music, on March 17th at 9:49 p.m. Paris time, you can hear tenor Marcel Quillevere, pianist Noel Lee and the Ensemble Erwartung, under the direction of Bernard Desgraupes, performing the following Miniaturas:
. Viola
. Cromo no2
. Cromo no3
. Sino da aldeia
. Japonesas
. Sonho
This is from a recently-released Opus 111 disc that I really must purchase soon.

On March 19th at 7:05 p.m., you can hear the Violoncelles de l'Orchestre du Gurzenich de Cologne perform Bachianas Brasileiras no. 1. This is apparently from a 1976 recording - I've never heard this particular version.

Meanwhile, on March 29th, the well-known Michael Tilson Thomas recording of Bachianas Brasileiras no. 4 is featured at 7:05 p.m. You can hear France Musiques here on the Internet.

Before I finish this last post of the evening, I must apologize for a couple of things. The first is the number of posts you might be receiving in your email from the topica.com subscription list. Each time I make a slight change in my posts, it's generating a new email posting. I'll have to be more careful about catching typos before I publish each posting to the blog.

Secondly, a number of people have asked about non-html posts, since some email clients can't handle anything but plain text. Unfortunately, I haven't come up with a way to fix this - the only thing to do right now is to delete the email posting and visit The Villa-Lobos Magazine on the web at http://villa-lobos.blogspot.com, where you can see everything properly formatted. By the way, if you'd like to receive emails of each new posting, put your email address in the box on the left-hand side of this website.

Villa on the BBC

The Brazilian Service of the BBC recently celebrated its 65th birthday, as I learned from the Google translation from this Portuguese-language page on BBCBrazil.com.

The quick history includes a picture (above) of Villa-Lobos being interviewed in 1949 by William Tate.

Elsewhere on the BBC website, I came across an excellent feature called "Brazil Inside Out", in which journalist Alex Bellos reports on his visit to five Brazilian regions. I really enjoyed the Brazilian-themed computer wallpapers and the page of Brazilian links (including one to the Heitor Villa-Lobos Website, though it has the older, more awkward URL of http://www.rdpl.red-deer.ab.ca/villa, rather than the newer, streamlined http://www.rdpl.org/villa).

While in Manaus, in the Amazonian rain-forest, Bellos attends a classical music concert in the great Teatro Amazonas, and interviews soprano Tais Bandeira, who has this to say about Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5:

"The music of this aria is typically Brazilian. But, at the same time, it manages to get to the heart of every person.
This song seems to come from the earth, a song of nostalgia."

Villa-Lobos on Cultura FM - March 2004

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.

Paul Moura plays the soprano saxophone in the Fantasia for saxophone on Thursday, March 18, at 11:00 a.m.

A week later, on March 25th at the same time, Enrique Arturo Diemecke conducts the Royal Philharmonic in the second Bachianas Brasileiras. The same program includes some interesting works by the next generation of Brazilian composers: Guerra Peixe, Guarnieri and Gilberto Mendes.

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.