Tumbling Villa-Lobos

Quando eu era criança, o desafio das grandes obras universais do repertório pianístico ocupava o centro das preocupações de todos nós. Os compositores brasileiros eram, em geral, considerados de menor complexidade, e suas obras mereciam leituras muitas vezes apressadas e superficiais. Essa percepção mudou radicalmente para mim - ainda na primeira juventude - depois de ouvir Guiomar de Novaes tocar ‘A Prole do Bebê nº 1’ num recital inesquecível no Rio de Janeiro. Percebi então que a música de Villa era universal como a de Bach, Beethoven ou Brahms

Great Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire on Villa-Lobos.  Google Translation:

“When I was a child, the challenge of the great works of universal pianistic repertoire occupied the central concern of us all. The Brazilian composers were generally considered less complex, and his works deserve readings often rushed and superficial. This perception changed dramatically for me - even in early youth - after hearing of Guiomar Novaes playing “A Prole do Bebe No. 1” in a memorable recital in Rio de Janeiro. I realized then that the music of Villa was universal as that of Bach, Beethoven or Brahms.”

The Disney visit to Brazil officially concluded with the events of 7 September, Brazil’s Independence Day. The morning was marked by a lengthy parade, demonstrating the massed might of Brazil’s armed forces. El Grupo turned out for the occasion, Walt watching the parade from Oswaldo Aranha’s palace. Later in the day, another kind of celebration took place at the Estadio Vasco da Gama: Heitor Villa-Lobos conducted a choral group composed of thirty thousand schoolchildren. All this was faithfully recorded on 16 mm film by Walt and Larry Lansburgh. It was an appropriately stupendous finish to an eventful three weeks in Brazil’s capital city.

[The concert] began with 2 more pieces by V-L - Erosion and Choros no. 9. Inexcusable - both of them - and for the same reason: an absolutely chaotic juxtaposition of the good, bad, and indifferent. One wonders how he justifies the form to himself and to what extent he imagines he is getting away with murder.

Villa-Lobos chose to present three such colorful works of his own, all sprawling in form and luxuriant in manner. They leave one astonished, but also quite confused. It is works like these that make Villa-Lobos the pride and despair of his Latin-American colleagues.

Morreu ali mesmo, no ato. Como se tivesse escolhido morrer ao som de Villa-Lobos.

Les oeuvres qu’il a construites au moyen de ces éléments stylisés pourraient être comparées aux tableaux et aux sculptures d’un Gauguin à Tahiti.