DDEE 33440099Luiz Mantovani, Gustavo Costa, Tadeu do Amaral, Everton Gloeden

SSuuiittee FFlloorraall (1918)1 Idílio na Rede (Idyll in a Hammock) (2:56)2 Uma Camponeza Cantadeira (A Singing Country Girl) (2:15)

3 Alegria na Horta (Joy in the Garden) (2:28)

from CCiirraannddaass (1926)4 A Canoa Virou (The Canoe Capsized) (2:57)5 A Condessa (The Countess) (3:03)6 Terezinha de Jesus (2:11)

SSttrriinngg QQuuaarrtteett NNoo.. 55 (1931) [15:52]7 Pouco andantino (6:05)8 Vivo e enérgico (3:10)9 Andantino (3:03)10 Allegro (3:34)

DDaannççaass CCaarraacctteerrííssttiiccaass AAffrriiccaannaass((AAffrriiccaann FFoollkk DDaanncceess)) (1916)11 Farrapós (Young People’s Dance) (4:09)12 Kankukus (Elder’s Dance) (4:25)13 Kankikis (Children’s Dance) (2:47)

from CCiirraannddaass14 À Procura de uma Agulha (Searching for a Needle) (3:09)

15 Senhora Dona Sancha (1:50)16 Que Lindos Olhos (What Beautiful Eyes) (3:53)

SSttrriinngg QQuuaarrtteett NNoo.. 1122 (1950) [23:36]17 Allegro (6:40)18 Andante melancólico (6:40)19 Scherzo – Allegretto (ligeiro) (5:23)20 Allegro (bem ritmado) (4:53)

All arrangements by Tadeu do Amaral

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 75:41

Brazilian Guitar QuartetEverton Gloeden and Luiz Mantovani, 8-string guitarsTadeu do Amaral and Gustavo Costa, 6-string guitars

Villa-Lobos with the score of his String Quartet No. 12 (1959)

“Sim, sou brasileiro e bem brasileiro. Na minha música eu deixo cantar os rios e osmares deste grande Brasil. Eu não ponho mordaça na exuberância tropical de nossasflorestas e dos nossos céus, que eu transponho instintivamente para tudo que escrevo”.

—Heitor Villa-Lobos

"Yes, I am Brazilian, very Brazilian. In my music I let the rivers and the oceans of thisgreat Brazil sing. I put no gag on the tropical exuberance of our forests and our skies,which instinctively I transpose into everything I write." —Heitor Villa-Lobos

Exuberance and simplicity are hallmarks both of Heitor Villa-Lobos’s own personality and ofhis rich and diverse oeuvre. As is characteristic of the culture of the Brazilian people as awhole, his work is sometimes bounded by tradition, while at other times it soars on thewings of experimentation, absorbing every European and Brazilian influence from that mo-ment in history, and incorporating them in his musical creation.

His music is often characterized according to different periods in his life. But while it is obviousthat historical events may have an impact on the artistic production of a certain epoch, I arguethat Villa-Lobos’s oeuvre in toto does not reflect a linear technical or esthetic evolution. Its trajec-tory is instead determined by variations in the means of expression, independent of historicalbackground. Changes in instrumentation create different acoustical environments that revealspecific compositional procedures and, in turn, distinct facets of the composer himself. Workswritten for piano, guitar, chorus, or chamber groups receive different treatments and generatedifferent musical ecosystems. These distinctions are emphasized when intersections betweentypes of instrumentation occur.

This is the first of several surprises in this beautiful collection by the Brazilian Guitar Quartet:works originally written for a variety of instruments are here skillfully transliterated, with exu-berance and simplicity, for four guitars. The result is that we have the privilege of a “throughhearing” of different esthetic conceptions in one controlled medium.

Suite Floral, originally written for piano in 1916-18, demonstrates in its first two parts some-thing of the ambience of Debussy. This continues in the third part, “Alegria na Horta” (Joy inthe Garden), in which traces of a Spanish melody are incorporated into a French view of theIberian peninsula, so typical of the time.

The Cirandas are a cycle of piano pieces written in 1926. A ciranda is children’s folksong that ac-companies a circle dance, and this cycle is one of several in which Villa-Lobos develops Brazil-ian folk themes through the subtle manipulation of texture. In so doing he invests traditionalmelodies with mysterious new readings. The Cirandas make frequent use of pedals and osti-nati, which lend to these pieces a freedom of expression typical of the composer, who hereagain brings the music of the Brazilian people to the concert stage.

String Quartet No. 5, dubbed “Quarteto Popular No. 1” by the composer, was written in 1931.With its quotations of folk themes in its first and fourth movements, it is unique in his seven-teen quartet cycle. Clearly this is a case where elements of the composer’s life did influence hismusic, for it was at this time when he began his cooperation with the government of PresidentGetúlio Vargas. Villa-Lobos went on during this period to write his cycle of nine BachianasBrasileiras and the “Guia Prática“ (Practical Guide), which would form the basis of his nation-wide educational crusade.

Pride in country is inherent already in the first movement of the quartet, which in typicalVilla-Lobos manner quotes a folk theme (here “Fui no Tororó”) and then moves to originalmelodies presented in a folkloric context. Later he quotes another folk theme, the gaucho song

Pezinho. This provoked a vehement reaction from critics, since the song originated in thebirthplace of President Vargas, who had just imposed a dictatorship that would last until 1945.

The Danças características africanaswere composed between 1914 and 1915 for solo pianoand orchestrated by the composer the following year. Farrapós, Kankukus, and Kankikis aresubtitled “Dances of the Mixed-Blood Indians of Brazil,” and were inspired, according to thecomposer, by themes from songs of the Caripuna indians of Mato Grosso, an ethnic groupformed from the intermarriage of Indians and Africans. (This typical Villa-Lobos statementraises anthropological questions better left for discussion elsewhere.) During Brazil’s pivotal“Semana de Arte Moderna” (Week of Modern Art) in 1922, Villa-Lobos transcribed the piecesfor an octet comprising flute, clarinet, piano and string quintet.

The African Folk Dances occupy a seminal position in the Villa-Lobos corpus, for already in1915 they incorporate typical elements of his later style, such as formal discourse and un-orthodox harmonies, together with the use of whole-tone scales as well as expanded tonal-ism, in keeping with early 20th century practice.

String Quartet No. 12was composed at Memorial Hospital in New York, where the composerwas recovering in 1950. This quartet amply refutes any reductive conclusion, based only on hisbest known works, that examples of his creative audacity were limited to the Chôros cycle fromthe Twenties, or that, by extension, his work from the Vargas era and thereafter was entirelytraditional. Quartet No. 12, written when Villa-Lobos was 63, is based on an atonal conception(like many of his other chamber works); it demonstrates an advanced treatment of structure,harmony, counterpoint, and texture, within a framework in keeping with global compositionalstyles of the first half of the 20th century.

In conclusion, I must say that I am amazed by the superb quality of the Brazilian GuitarQuartet, who achieve the complete technical and expressive integration that is the ideal ofevery chamber music group. This recording provides the opportunity to enjoy the way inwhich the guitar’s multiple timbres sensitively reveal every nuance of musical experience.

Villa-Lobos himself made many transcriptions during his lifetime. This recording is an au-thentic reflection of the Villa-Lobos way of making music; we hope this is the first of manysuch experiments, as the music of this great Brazilian composer is passed on as a living entityinto the future.

About the author: Gil Jardim is the author of The Anthropophagical Style of Heitor Villa-Lobos(Philarmonia Brasileira). He was awarded the “Diapason d’Or” Prize and the “Prime de Cul-tura” of the magazine Bravo for his CD “Villa-Lobos em Paris” (2006). Jardim is the Music Di-rector and Principal Conductor of the University of São Paulo Chamber Orchestra, and aprofessor in the USP’s School of Communication and the Arts.

English adaptation by Luiz Mantovani, Lisa Sapinkopf and H. Mack Horton

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

Making Music in the Authentic Villa-Lobos Style

Exuberância e simplicidade são características presentes na rica e diversificada obra de Heitor Villa-Lobos, bem como na personalidade do autor cuja produção, ora está circunscrita à tradição, orabusca seu futuro nas asas do experimentalismo, num ato de contínua antropofagia criativa. Semdúvida, aspectos conhecidos da cultura do povo brasileiro.

Muitas vezes encontramos a produção musical de Villa-Lobos classificada segundo períodos desua vida. É evidente que acontecimentos históricos podem impactar na produção artística de de-terminada época. Todavia, pretendo sublinhar a não linearidade temporal da produção do com-positor quanto à evolução técnica e estética em seu catálogo de obras. Defendo a idéia que são osmeios de expressão que determinam as diversas linhas estéticas presentes em Villa-Lobos, inde-pendente da época em que as obras tenham sido escritas. São as diferentes formações instrumen-tais que revelam as propostas composicionais específicas no seu trabalho, estabelecendo ambientessonoros estimulados pelas propriedades acústicas de cada um desses grupos e que revelam facetasdistintas de um mesmo autor.Dessa forma, as obras concebidas para piano, violão, coro, orquestra ou grupos camerísticos, re-cebem tratamentos distintos, como se constituíssem verdadeiros ecos-sistema, guardando carac-terísticas relativas a cada grupo. As intersecções confirmam a regra.

Essa é a primeira surpresa desse belo trabalho do Quarteto Brasileiro de Violões: a reunião de obrasescritas originalmente para distintos meios de expressão, vertidas com grande felicidade para qua-tro violões, com exuberância e simplicidade. Como conseqüência, temos o privilégio de um “ouviratravés”, ou seja, de reconhecermos diferentes propostas estéticas de um mesmo autor a partir deum mesmo meio de expressão, o quarteto de violões.

Na Suite Floral, obra escrita para piano em 1916/18, deparamo-nos com a ambiência francesaoriginada em Debussy, especialmente nas duas primeiras peças. Em Alegria na Horta, a 3ª. peça, otraço ibérico da melodia acompanha também o olhar francês da época em direção à península.

As Cirandas, ciclo de peças para piano escrito em 1926, integram um dos conjuntos de obras emque o compositor lança mão de temas do folclore brasileiro, envolvendo-os em refinadas elabo-rações texturais, como que estabelecendo inusitadas paisagens de fundo sobre as quais as difer-entes melodias receberam uma nova leitura.

Os pedais e os ostinati são recorrentes nas Cirandas. A liberdade de expressão é a essência dogesto villalobiano. Sem dúvida, mais uma vez, nosso grande compositor traria a “música típica”do povo brasileiro para as salas de concerto.

Já o Quarteto de Cordas No.5, batizado pelo autor como “Quarteto Popular No. 1”, foi escrito em1931 e possui proposta bastante distinta e particular dentro do ciclo dos 17 quartetos por contercitações de temas folclóricos no primeiro e quarto movimentos. Este é de fato uma exceção. É inegávelque o assunto musical utilizado nesse quarteto tenha sido estimulado pelas circunstâncias vividaspelo compositor no começo dos anos 30, quanto iniciava sua colaboração com o governo de GetúlioVargas. Este será o período em que Villa escreverá o ciclo das 9 Bachianas Brasileiras e os tomos doGuia Prático, destinado a dar suporte à sua cruzada educacional pelo país.

A presença do espírito ufanista nesse Quarteto Popular pode ser observada já no seu primeiro movi-mento, onde encontramos a citação do tema folclórico “Fui no Tororó”, seguido por melodias criadascom contorno folclórico, gesto usual e recorrente no autor. Mais à frente encontraremos a citação deoutro tema folclórico, a canção gaúcha “Pezinho”. Sobre essa citação se instalou a famosa polêmica com

parte da crítica especializada, especialmente Mário de Andrade, que rechaçou com dureza essa obra.Naturalmente, foi recebida como uma homenagem explícita a Getúlio. Lembremos que a obra foi dedi-cada a João Alberto Lins de Barros, interventor nomeado por Vargas para o estado de São Paulo, substi-tuindo o governador eleito, Júlio Prestes. Por outro lado, devemos observar que essa melodia é amesma de “Que lindos olhos” (Ciranda No. 15). Haverá como reler esse momento histórico?

As Danças Características Africanas foram compostas entre 1914 e 1915, originalmente para pianosolo, e foram orquestradas no ano seguinte, em 1916. Farrapós, Kankukus e Kankikis receberam osubtítulo de “Danças dos Índios Mestiços do Brasil”. Segundo depoimento do compositor, algunstemas dos índios Caripunas (Mato Grosso), raça originada do cruzamento com negros, teriam lheservido de inspiração. (Esse é um depoimento tipicamente villalobiano e importante de ser infor-mado, deixando o interesse por uma investigação antropológica pertinente para outro momento.)Durante a Semana de Arte Moderna (1922), o autor transcreveu a obra para um Octeto formadopor flauta, clarinete, piano e quinteto de cordas.

As Danças Características Africanas ocupam uma posição estratégica no catálogo de Villa-Lobos, poisjá contém, em 1915, elementos e diretrizes características de seu estilo: discursos formais e encadea-mentos harmônicos não ortodoxos, utilização de escalas de tons inteiros, assim como incursões sobreum tonalismo expandido, ratificando tendências conhecidas do início do Século XX.

O Quarteto de Cordas No.12 foi escrito no Memorial Hospital de Nova Iorque, onde o compositor se restab-elecia, em 1950. O arrojo estético em sua linguagem musical não deve ser atribuído somente ao Ciclo dosChoros produzidos na década de 20. Da mesma forma, não é correto enxergar sua prisão a um estilo tradi-cionalista a partir da era Vargas (1930-45). Isso é rotular a produção do autor com base apenas em algumasde suas obras mais conhecidas, ou seja, um reducionismo. O Quarteto de Cordas No. 12 é um típico exem-plo produzido quando o compositor estava em seus 63 anos de idade. Verificamos o tratamento avançadoquanto a parâmetros estruturais, harmônicos, contrapontísticos e texturais do material sonoro, ou seja, comperfil estético alinhado com algumas das tendências da primeira metade do Século XX no mundo. Essaobra é concebida num ambiente sonoro atonal, como muitas outras obras camerísticas de seu catálogo, emque o assunto musical desenvolvido se volta exclusivamente a ele próprio.

Para concluir, quero dizer que estou maravilhado com a soberba qualidade desse notável QuartetoBrasileiro de Violões. Integração técnica e expressiva total é o que todo grupo camerístico de excelênciabusca. Nesse trabalho temos a oportunidade de ouvir um instrumento único, com possibilidades tim-brísticas múltiplas, capaz de revelar com sensibilidade todas as nuances sonoras que a experiência mu-sical contempla.

Villa-Lobos fez, ele próprio, muitas transcrições em sua vida. Esse CD propõe um estilo absolutamentevillalobiano de se fazer música. Ficamos com a expectativa de ouvir ainda mais dessa experiência quenão se esgota aqui e que abraça a música do grande compositor brasileiro de forma viva, lançando-apara o futuro.

GIL JARDIMAutor do livro “O Estilo Antropofágico de Heitor Villa-Lobos” (Editora: Philarmonia Brasileira).Agraciado com o prêmio “Diapason d’Or” e o “Prime de Cultura” da Revista Bravo pelo CD “Villa-Lobos em Paris”, em 2006.Diretor Artístico e Regente Titular da Orquestra de Câmara da USP.Docente do Departamento de Música da ECA/USP.

UM ESTILO ABSOLUTAMENTE VILLALOBIANO DE SE FAZER MÚSICA – Gil Jardim

BIOS

Praised by the Washington Post for their “seductive beauty” and “virtuosic gusto,”the Brazilian Guitar Quartet has established itself as one of world's leading guitarensembles. The group’s unique combination of regular six-string and extended-range, eight-string guitars, allows for the exploration of an original and unusualrepertoire. In more than a decade of activity, the BGQ has performed over 300 con-certs in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia, often receiving ecstatic audienceresponses, garnering rave reviews, and meeting sold-out halls.

Highlights of the BGQ's past seasons include performances at the 92 Street ‘Y’ andthe Metropolitan Museum in New York, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, Ravinia Festival inChicago, Dumbarton Concerts in Washington, D.C., Beethovensaal in Hanover,Chamber Music Albuquerque, Hong Kong International Arts Festival, Carmel BachFestival, Felicja Blumental International Music Festival in Tel Aviv, Festival Interna-cional de Guitarra de Monterrey and the Adelaide International Guitar Festival, be-sides numerous performances and recordings for National Public Radio inWashington, D.C. and Houston.

The Brazilian Guitar Quartet were “headliners” at the inaugural World Guitar Con-gress in Baltimore where they, together with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,gave the world premiere of a specially-commissioned concerto by Brazil’s 2001“Composer of the Year,” Ronaldo Miranda. In 2006, the Quartet gave the Brazilianpremiere of this work with the Petrobras Symphony Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro. In2009, as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Isaac Albéniz’ death, the BGQ presentedthe composer’s masterwork Suite Iberia on a concert tour in some of the most impor-tant capitals of Brazil.

This all-Villa Lobos CD marks the fifth BGQ recording for Delos. Two are also devotedto Brazilian Music, Essência do Brasil (chosen by Audiophile Audition one of the bestrecordings of that year) (DE 3245) and Encantamento (DE 3302). The other recordingspresent, in their entirety, two great works of Western classical music, Bach's FourOrchestral Suites (DE 3254) and Albéniz’s Iberia (2006) (DE 3364).Brazilian Guitar Quartet website: http://www.brazilianguitarquartet.com

TECHNICAL INFORMATION • CREDITS

Brazilian Guitar QuartetEverton Gloeden; eight-string guitar by Martin Woodhouse (2001)Luiz Mantovani; eight-string guitar by Martin Woodhouse (2003)Tadeu do Amaral; six-string guitar by Martin Woodhouse (2001)Gustavo Costa; six-string guitar by Dominique Field (1991)

Recorded at the Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall/Arthur Zankel Music Center (Skidmore College,Saratoga Springs, NY) between February 13 and February 17, 2010Delos Executive Producer: Carol RosenbergerRecording Producer: Brazilian Guitar QuartetRecording Engineer: Daniel Czernecki, assisted by Brian Peters and Nathan LawrencePost-production: Tadeu do Amaral and Plinio HesselMicrophones: Schoeps MK2H/CMC6XT, DPA 4011 TL and 4006 TL with noseconesPreamp and A/D converter: Cranesong SpiderMonitors: B&W 805 Nautilus speakersAll Villa-Lobos photos by courtesy of Museu Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro.All BGQ photos by Susane Medeiros Vianna.Creative Direction: Harry PackGraphics: Mark Evans

Special thanks to: Thomas Denny and Joel Brown at Skidmore College, Michael E. Collins, Lisa Sapinkopf,Gil Jardim, Marcelo Fernandes Dias and Ricardo Manuel Garcia Pereira Dias.

7 W 2011 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343 Sonoma, CA 95476-9998(707) 996-3844 • Fax (707) 320-0600 • (800) 364-0645

Disc Made in Canada. Assembled in USAwww.delosmusic.com

Isaac Albéniz Iberia (DE 3364)

“The Brazilian quartet is a unique musical group: it consists of two stan-dard guitars and two eight string guitars à la Paul Galbraith, who was for atime a member of the group. What does it sound like? In a word it is mag-nificent. In this recording they take on Albéniz’ masterpiece Iberia. Theextra pitch ranges at the bottom and top mean there is no compromise be-cause of crowding the music into the available octaves of the standard gui-tar, and the tone colors of which pianists can only dream can be exploitedwith beautiful effect … The quartet are effortlessly virtuosic on their parts,preternaturally unified, have gorgeous arrangements of the score, and de-liver an outstanding interpretation … as near to perfection as I have en-countered.”

— SOUNDBOARD MAGAZINE

BGQ MAKES HISTORIC RECORDING OF ALBÉNIZ * * * * [FOUR STARS, HIGHEST RATING]

“This CD … will stand as a reference recording of the Catalan composer’smasterpiece … a performance breathtaking not only for the exuberant vir-tuosity in fast passages and syncopated rhythms, but also for virtuosity ofanother level, that of fine control of tempo and tonal qualities, in overlap-ping layers … [BGQ’s interpretation] has now taken its place alongside[those of Alicia de Larrocha and Daniel Barenboim], beneath the ideal sunof Iberia, and in no one’s shadow.”

— A FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO

MORE RECORDINGS ON DELOS

Encantamento (DE 3302)Music by Brazilian composers Mignone,Guarnieri, Santoro, Miranda, Oswald

“Their varied and intriguing work here is in-fectiously likable … spotless ensemble preci-sion … gets better with repeated hearing.”

— MINNEAPOLIS STAR AND TRIBUNE

“Most North American classical music loversare familiar with Heitor Villa-Lobos, but feware familiar with Brazil’s other composers …Providing a welcome introduction to thoseother figures is [Encantamento] … thesepieces boast a melodic accessibility andrhythmic sensuality that often eludes northernhemisphere composers … [the BGQ] executesthe lively, tricky rhythms of this music as onlyBrazilians could” — HOWARD COUNTYTIMES, Columbia, Maryland

Bach: The Orchestral Suites (DE 3254)“Of all the anniversary albums paying hom-age to Bach this year … this disc offers someof the most unlikely yet consistently delight-ful listening … the Suites sound as if theywere meant for this arrangement all along,with the players bringing out not only therich counterpoint but the vibrant color of theworks … the ever-popular Air of the SuiteNo. 3 moves with a grace both limpid andlapidary … a wonderful record.”

— BILLBOARD

“Absolute clarity, rhythmic precision, anddrive … brilliant playing … a welcomerhythmic vitality that is tempered with astylish lilt … sparkling ensemble playing.”

— AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

Essência do Brasil (DE 3245)Music by Brazilian composers Villa-Lobos,Guarnieri, Mignone, Gomes“Strong rhythmic articulation and clarity …creates much excitement … leave(s) the lis-tener smiling.”

— AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

“Refreshing, highly entertaining and substan-tial new repertoire … the players’ musician-ship and enthusiasm for this venture shinesthrough every bar. This is a top class record-ing of fabulous music from a world-classquartet. Highly recommended.”

— CLASSICAL GUITAR“CRITIC’S CHOICE … dazzling music … theworks are in fact thoroughly Brazilian incharacter, full of passionate melodies, excit-ing strumming and dazzling color … a stun-ning debut … of vibrant music played withjoie de vivre that is infectious.”

— THE DAILY YOMIURI, Tokyo

“Cause for celebration … great brilliance andenormous musicality … energy and drive …They play as one, with a gift for tone color atonce varied and integrated. They breathe to-gether, giving the performances a uniquelyorganic aura … An ideal synthesis of bright-ness and reverie, tropical warmth and clarityof ideas … An unsurpassable disc.”

— JORNAL DA TARDE, São Paulo