Heitor Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras Nos. 7, 8 & 9 (Roberto Minczuk)

Information

Composer: Heitor Villa-Lobos

• Bachianas Brasileiras No. 7, for orchestra
• Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9, Version for string orchestra
• Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9, Version for choir a cappella
• Bachianas Brasileiras No. 8, for orchestra

São Paulo Symphony Choir & Orchestra

Roberto Minczuk, conductor

Date: 2006

Label: BIS

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Review

A splendid trio of these eccentric but hugely appealing Brazilian Bach fusions

For their second instalment of Bachianas brasileiras (the first contained Nos 2_4), BIS and Roberto Minczuk concentrate on the final three of the series, dating from 1942_45, with both versions of No 9 - the original for unaccompanied choir as well as the composer's reworking for strings. Their stated intention is to include all the differing versions of the Bachianas to produce at last a truly “complete” set, something which the recent Naxos memorial set to Kenneth Schermerhorn failed to deliver.

Nos 7_9 (albeit just the orchestral version of the last) were the strongest components of the Naxos set, but Minczuk and the São Paulo Symphony are stronger still. The Brazilian players sound as if the music is in their blood (as it should be) and their ensemble is in no way inferior to that of any of their rivals. An over-polished palette does not always do justice to Villa-Lobos's orchestral textures, which often benefit from the odd rough edge (though not as clumsy as the composer's own accounts from the 1950s with the French National Radio Orchestra; Nos 7 and 8 are almost unrecognisable in places); however, the São Paulo SO show that superb ensemble can work just as well and surpass not just the composer and Schermerhorn but, in No 8, Bátiz's benchmark EMI recordings and Karabtchewsky.

The BIS sound is more consistently focused than on the Naxos set and superior to either EMI. For No 8 López-Cobos and the Cincinnati SO (Telarc, 2/96) remain formidable rivals, but this newcomer is otherwise recommendable as first choice. I can hardly wait for the remaining instalments.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2007/Jan07/Villa-Lobos_BISCD1400.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/villa-lobos-bachianas-brasileiras-nos-7-8-9-mw0001856686

https://www.amazon.com/Bachianas-Brasileiras-Nos-Heitor-Villa-Lobos/dp/B000IOMWMM

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Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887 – November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist. Described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music", Villa-Lobos has become the best-known South American composer of all time. A prolific composer, he wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works, totaling over 2,000 works by his death in 1959. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, and is well represented on the world's recital and concert stages and on compact disc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heitor_Villa-Lobos

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Roberto Minczuk (born April 23, 1967) is a Brazilian conductor. Of Belarusian and Polish descent, he was born in São Paulo and studied at the Escola Municipal de Música. In 1981 he went to the United States to study at the Juilliard School, graduating in 1987. In 1984 he debuted as a conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. Minczuk held positions as associate artistic director and associate conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, of the Ribeirão Preto Symphony and titular conductor of the University of Brasília Symphony Orchestra. He is made music director of the New Mexico Philharmonic in 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Minczuk

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