Concert will include Villa-Lobos' Quarteto Symbolico, for flute, saxophone, harp and celeste, with women's voices. This seldom heard work is one of Villa-Lobos' masterpieces, an extraordinary work for an unusual combination of instruments, creating unforgetable timbres.
Villa-Lobos was obviously very proud of this piece, as he presented it during the "Week of Modern Art" in São Paulo in 1921, at a concert devoted to his works, and later at other important concerts where he was trying to establish his reputation internationally. He took it to Paris in 1924, and presented it together with Noneto at the very first all Villa-Lobos outside Brazil, and later had it performed in the United States in 1941 at a Brazilian exhibition, again paired with Noneto. Neither the Quartet nor Noneto have been released on record with the exception of a single recording made in the 1950's, and performances are rare, despite the fact that these pieces are among his very best works.