PAU BRASIL - Villa Lobas Superstar
Stunt Records: STUCD 17042
Pau Brasil – Teco Cardoso: saxophones, flute; Nelson Ayres: piano; Rodolfo Stroeter: bass; Paulo Bellinati: guitar; Ricardo Mosca: drums
Ensemble SP – Betina StegmannL violon; Nelson Ris: violin; Marcelo Jaffe: viola; Bob Suetholz: cello; Renato Braz: vocal
No recording information
This is a celebration of the life and works of Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) who is probably that best known composer of music to have come out of Brazil. As the pieces in this collection illustrate, it is not always easy to determine the genre of music with which he most identified. There is a sense of ‘Brazilian Impressionism’, in which he combines the sort of early 20th Century lyricism of Debussy or Ravel with a distinctly Brazilian rhythmic sense. A self-publicist of epic proportions, Villa-Lobos declared, ‘I don’t use folklore, I am the folklore’, and the challenge that he set himself was to create a musical style that would create a ‘classical’ music in an identifiably Brazilian style.
But even this description is too limiting for the range of styles on this CD. Perhaps a better appreciation comes from learning that Villa-Lobos was largely self-taught on cello, guitar and clarinet and that, when his father died when Villa-Lobos was only about 12, he went to work playing in cinema and theatre orchestras in Rio. Imagining that each piece is following the action of silent movies makes perfect sense as I listened to this set. The approach that Pau Brasil take to each piece is to work back to the most simple elements in the tune, build this back up (often, I felt, with a nod to jazz and popular music of the ‘30s – there were many hints of the tunes of, say, Cole Porter in their playing) and then create versions of the tunes with the Ensemble SP that have the sound of a contemporary chamber orchestra. This works well and helps celebrate the classical elements of the pieces. However, when guitar, sax or flute are given prominence, each piece burst into life. I also really liked the expressive singing of Braz who gave each song a deep poignancy.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Stunt Records: STUCD 17042
Pau Brasil – Teco Cardoso: saxophones, flute; Nelson Ayres: piano; Rodolfo Stroeter: bass; Paulo Bellinati: guitar; Ricardo Mosca: drums
Ensemble SP – Betina StegmannL violon; Nelson Ris: violin; Marcelo Jaffe: viola; Bob Suetholz: cello; Renato Braz: vocal
No recording information
This is a celebration of the life and works of Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) who is probably that best known composer of music to have come out of Brazil. As the pieces in this collection illustrate, it is not always easy to determine the genre of music with which he most identified. There is a sense of ‘Brazilian Impressionism’, in which he combines the sort of early 20th Century lyricism of Debussy or Ravel with a distinctly Brazilian rhythmic sense. A self-publicist of epic proportions, Villa-Lobos declared, ‘I don’t use folklore, I am the folklore’, and the challenge that he set himself was to create a musical style that would create a ‘classical’ music in an identifiably Brazilian style.
But even this description is too limiting for the range of styles on this CD. Perhaps a better appreciation comes from learning that Villa-Lobos was largely self-taught on cello, guitar and clarinet and that, when his father died when Villa-Lobos was only about 12, he went to work playing in cinema and theatre orchestras in Rio. Imagining that each piece is following the action of silent movies makes perfect sense as I listened to this set. The approach that Pau Brasil take to each piece is to work back to the most simple elements in the tune, build this back up (often, I felt, with a nod to jazz and popular music of the ‘30s – there were many hints of the tunes of, say, Cole Porter in their playing) and then create versions of the tunes with the Ensemble SP that have the sound of a contemporary chamber orchestra. This works well and helps celebrate the classical elements of the pieces. However, when guitar, sax or flute are given prominence, each piece burst into life. I also really liked the expressive singing of Braz who gave each song a deep poignancy.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
