Classical Music

The genesis of Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Études goes back to his first meeting with the Andrés Segovia, at which the legendary guitarist asked for one étude and the composer ended up writing twelve. Andrea Bissoli returns to the original 1928 manuscript, restoring elements lost in later publication and reliving the magic of those times on an instrument almost identical to Segovia’s. The Tarantela was probably also written guitar in hand. For his ‘folk ensemble’ instrumentation of the brightly colored songs of the Guia prático, Bissoli has sought out traces of the guitar in the original and chosen a selection of pieces tailor-made for his instrument. The exciting story of O papagaio do moleque (The Little Boy’s Kite) concludes this third and final volume of the series.

Classical Music

On this release, Marcelo Bratke continues his journey through the complete Villa-Lobos solo piano works. This release features volumes 4 and 5, and includes such Villa-Lobos’s Guia Practico Albums 1-11. During a decade of extraordinary accomplishments and performances, Marcelo Bratke, one of Brazil’s preeminent pianists, has performed at some of the world’s most renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Salzburg Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin. In recent years, he has become increasingly focused on how the arts can engage in politics and help contribute to improvements in society. “The Villa-Lobos pieces played by Mr. Bratke at the start were best of all, offering hints of wildness, yet with elegant construction, subtle rhythmic dislocations and shining piano colors… Mr. Bratke is a fine and flexible pianist, perfectly happy either to play Bach or to plunge into the popular music he set next to it.” (The New York Times)

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BRASILIANISCHE IMPRESSIONEN

Villa-Lobos: Choros Nos. 8 & 9

VILLA-LOBOS: String Quartets Nos. 4, 6 and 14

VILLA-LOBOS: Rudepoema / Dancas

VILLA-LOBOS: Discovery of Brazil, Suites Nos. 1 - 4

VILLA-LOBOS: Pequena Suite / Bachianas brasileiras Nos. 2, 5

Roberto Duarte revised both these works with the support of the Museo Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.


Villa-Lobos' late masterpiece, Forest of the Amazon, began life as a Hollywood film score, the majority of which was never used. So he developed the music into a huge, 80-minute-long, multi-movement suite that serves both as a tribute to his homeland and a fitting culmination of his personal musical voice. The work has everything: luscious orchestration, great tunes, a "primitive" male choir chanting in a primordial language, some lovely songs for soprano, and passages of wordless vocalise for the same singer evocative of exotic birdsong. Does it sound "Hollywood-esque"? Yes, but only to the extent that Villa-Lobos often works in a similar idiom anyway. More significantly, the piece is chock-full of contrast--but there are also recurring elements (the War Dance, for example) that help to bind it together and give it shape. It's not just 80 minutes of "atmosphere".

The only competition for this recording, for which a new edition of the score was specially prepared, comes from Alfred Heller's very good Moscow recording, which contains a touch less music. Certainly in terms of sheer sonic opulence, the performers' ability to project the style with total confidence and commitment, and the excellence of the singing (soprano Anna Korondi is superb), this vividly engineered SACD sets a new standard. If you've been collecting this Brazilian music series (and you certainly should be), then this new release will be self-recommending. It's simply magnificent.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

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Classical Music

Of all the volumes in this series, the current one presents arguably the most diverse sample of Villa-Lobos' musical language and techniques.

Composed in 1954 for the 400th anniversary of the founding of S�o Paulo, Amer�ndia is the composer's largest symphony. Effectively a hybrid symphony and oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra, it is memorable for it's stylistic variety and breadth, drawing on many different sources of Brazilian music. This recording is based on a newly revised edition made by Editora Criadores do Brasil (the S�o Paulo Symphony Orchestra's publishing house) in collaboration with the Academia Brasileira de M�sica. Born in Brazil in 1934, Isaac Karabtchevsky studied conducting and composition in Germany under Wolfgang Fortner, Pierre Boulez, and Carl Ueter. He has held posts at the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB), La Fenice in Venice, and the Tonku�nstler in Vienna. He is currently director of the Petrobras Symphony of Rio de Janeiro and the Heliopolis Symphony, an orchestra composed of young musicians, most of them from disadvantaged communities in S�o Paulo.

Classical Music

Classical Music

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This set consists of previously released recordings. - ArkivMusic

Heitor Villa-Lobos once confessed that he loved to write string quartets, stating ‘one could say that it is a mania.’ His 17 quartets form a substantial part of his chamber music output, covering a long career that embraced national pride and musical experimentation leading to the rarefied atmosphere of the final masterpieces. Often drawing on the musical folklore of Brazil, these quartets are an outpouring of spontaneous and daring invention. Ranging from austere polyphony to compelling expressiveness and virtuosity, they represent one of the most distinctive bodies of chamber works in 20th-century music.

REVIEWS:

Villa-Lobos once confessed that he loved to write string quartets, stating ‘one could say that it is a mania.’ His 17 quartets form a substantial part of his chamber music output, covering a long career that embraced national pride and musical experimentation leading to the rarefied atmosphere of the final masterpieces. Often drawing on the musical folklore of Brazil, these quartets are an outpouring of spontaneous and daring invention. Ranging from austere polyphony to compelling expressiveness and virtuosity, they represent one of the most distinctive bodies of chamber works in 20th-century music. 6 CDs. Danubius Quartet. Original 1992–1994 Marco Polo releases.

-- Records International

Established in 1983, the Danubius Quartet was a Hungarian group – this set was recorded in Budapest – so while they may lack the Latinamericanlo’s Brazilian ‘accent’, they nevertheless hail from Europe’s great centre of string playing. Their brightly projected sound is ideal for Villa-Lobos’s life-affirming music.

-- Limelight

Heitor Villa-Lobos’s mother dismissed the guitar as “an instrument played by scoundrels”, but his earliest surviving work, Dime perché, comes from a time when he was composing almost exclusively on this instrument. +By completing his unfinished Valsa Concerto No. 2, Andrea Bissoli brings to life the subject of a notorious anecdote between Segovia and Miguel Llobet, and the Sexteto místico echoes Brazilian street band sounds, anticipating Villa-Lobos’s “new form” of the mystical Choros. +The intimate serenade Canção do Amor is from his soundtrack for the film Green Mansions.