In 2012, we celebrated the 125th birthday of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos with a series of three chamber music concerts devoted entirely to his works. This year we continue that tradition, with a varied program of works for wind ensembles, strings, and piano. The program, organized by pianist and Villa-Lobos expert Fred Sturm, will be:
Viva Villa-Lobos! Birthday concert
Keller Hall, UNM
Sunday, March 3, 2013, 7:30, pm
Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon (W. 182, 1921)
1) Animé
2) Languissamente
3) Vivo
Kevin Vigneau, oboe; Keith Lemmons, clarinet; Denise Reig Turner, bassoon
Suite Floral (W. 117, 1918)
1) Idilio na Rede (Idyll in the hammock)
2) Uma Camponeza Cantadeira (A Country Girl Singer)
3) Allegria na Horta (Happiness in the Garden)
Fred Sturm, piano
Intermission
String Quartet #5 (W. 263, 1931)
1) Poco Andantino - Un poco vivo - Tempo Primo - Lento - Allegro vivace - Vivo – Presto
Abe Frank Quartet: Guilherme Pimenta, Ayisha Moss, violin; Grazzia Sagastume, viola; Mathias Iff, cello
Choros #3 (W.206, 1925)
Tyler Zey, Clarinet; Tesa Rae, Saxophone; Anna Perea, Bassoon; Amanda Hernandez, Marissa Diaz, Michele Smith, Horns; Fernando Cardoso, Bass Trombone
A Prole do Bebê (The Baby’s Family), suite 1 (W. 140, 1919)
1) Branquinha, a boneca de louça (The little white porcelain doll)
2) Moreninha, a boneca de massa (The little brown papier-maché doll)
3) Caboclinha, a boneca de barro (The little cabocla clay doll)
4) Mulatinha, a boneca de borracha (The little mulatta rubber doll)
5) Negrinha, a boneca de pau (The little black wooden doll)
6) Pobrezinha, a boneca de trapo (The poor little rag doll)
7) O polichinelo (The clown)
8) Bruxa, a boneca de pano (The cloth witch doll)
Fred Sturm, piano
Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon is very similar in character to the later series of thirteen pieces under the name Choros. It is written in an improvisatory style, with strong rhythmic emphasis, and each instrument contributes equally to an interchange in which all three instruments play all roles, seamlessly moving from background accompaniment to melodic foreground and back. At times the three instruments seem to be almost entirely independent of one another, while at others they are closely synchronized. The piece, like much of Villa-Lobos’ output, demands a high level virtuosity of the performers, and explores the timbres and effects possible on each instrument as well as in combination. The structure of the movements is very intuitive, moving from theme to theme and from texture to texture in a very natural and organic manner, without reference to any of the classical forms.
Suite Floral was written as three separate pieces, later put together. The second movement was written first, in 1916, and consists of a melody in 6/8 over an accompaniment figure in 5/8. The melody is played mostly on the black keys, while the accompaniment is on the white keys, a devise common in many of Villa-Lobos’ piano works. The first movement, written in 1917, is impressionistic in character, evoking the swaying of a hammock, with freely associating melodic ideas developing and transforming in a roughly sonata-like form. The last movement, written in 1918, has a very characteristic Villa-Lobos sound that derives from the color produced by various pianistic effects. This exuberant movement is often played by itself, and has long been very popular with pianists and audiences in Brazil.
String Quartet #5 was written during a time when Villa-Lobos was concentrating on Brazilian folk material, which he later used as the basis for the music education system he created and managed for the entire country of Brazil for two decades. The various melodies in the first movement (the only movement to be performed on this concert) also appear in Cirandinhas for piano, written in the early 1920s. These rather simple children’s song tunes are each given a very colorful setting, making this one of Villa-Lobos’ most popular quartets.
Choros #3 was written after Villa-Lobos’ first stay in Paris, in preparation for his second trip there. He had found that music with a “Brazilian” character was more likely to bring him success, so he embarked on a series of pieces for a variety of instrumentation based on the popular Brazilian chôro tradition, analogous to jazz in the United States, as a rhythmic, improvised style. Choros #3 has three versions, for wind ensemble, men’s chorus, or both combined. It is based on a native Brazilian song, Nozani-na, collected in the Amazon area, and which Villa-Lobos used in several pieces. A contrasting theme is Pica-pau, the sound of the woodpecker.
A Prole do Bebê, Suite 1 was perhaps the work most responsible for transforming Villa-Lobos from an obscure regional composer to an international sensation. The legendary piano virtuoso Artur Rubenstein was very taken by this work when he visited Rio de Janeiro in 1920, and he performed it regularly throughout his career. The seventh movement, O Polichinelo, became one of Rubenstein’s favorite encores and was, in fact, the last encore of his very last public concert.
While on a superficial level this remarkable suite owes a great deal to the compositional techniques of Debussy, it is at the same time one of the earliest works that is “authentically Villa-Lobos.” Its pianistic colors and rhythms are quite distinct from those of the French school, and Villa-Lobos was adamant in saying that his music should not be played like Debussy, but rather “like Villa-Lobos.” His indications of accents, dynamic levels, articulation and other aspects of performance are very precise in showing how this is to be done (though many pianists have been guilty of ignoring them). Each movement depicts a different member of “the baby’s family” of dolls (a second suite depicts toy animals).
$10/8/6