This coming Friday Naxos will release an album of concertante music for cello and orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos as the latest installment in its The Music of Brazil series. This accounts for two concertos, the first composed in 1915 and the second in 1954, along with a three-movement “Fantasia.” The 1915 concerto is also in three movements, played without interruptions. The 1953 concerto is in four movements with the last two played without interruption. As is usually the case, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders.
Joaquín Roca Carrasco’s portrait of Villa-Lobos with his cello (from an online article from The Strad)
As a performer Villa-Lobos played both cello and classical guitar. This best-known work, the fifth of his “Bachianas Brasileiras” compositions, was scored for a cello orchestra with the leader taking solo passages to complement the solo performance by a soprano vocalist. However, those familiar with all nine of the compositions in that series are probably aware of his keen ear for instrumental coloration. Thus, all three of the works on this new release provide a rich diversity of sonorities to complement the virtuoso solo work composed for the cello.
Those that follow this site regularly probably know by now that I seldom pass up an opportunity to listen to works by Villa-Lobos, whether in performance or on a recording. The breath of his “complete works” canon is extensive enough that many (if not most) of my encounters are journeys of discovery. That is definitely the case with this new release. I had previously encountered cellist Antonio Meneses as a member of the Beaux Arts Trio, but this was my first encounter with his work as a concerto soloist. On the other hand, I have been familiar with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra conducted by the Brazilian Isaac Karabtchevsky for some time, since they had previously recorded the complete symphonies of Villa-Lobos for Naxos.
As always, this new release reminded me that every Villa-Lobos composition provides its own opportunities for discovery.
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