mentions:
date & photographer unknown
Showing posts with label Heitor Villa-Lobos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heitor Villa-Lobos. Show all posts
March 6, 2024
March 5, 2024
20,000 vinyl LPs 357: Heitor Villa-Lobos ~ Little Train of the Caipira
~
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design by Fernando Salles
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Today is the birthday of Heitor Villa-Lobos who was born on March 5, 1887, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He 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, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras (Brazilian Bachian-pieces) and his Chôros. Little Train of the Caipira is the subtitle for the Toccata movement that concludes the orchestral suite written by Heitor Villa-Lobos in 1930, titled Bachianas brasileiras No. 2.
I chose the Toccata movement from the second Brasileiras to commemorate his birthday; it is one of the two Brasileiras that I dearly love. The other is the Aria from the fourth Brasileiras which I will write about at another time, maybe next year.
His Etudes for classical guitar (1929) were dedicated to Andrés Segovia, while his 5 Preludes
(1940) were dedicated to his spouse Arminda Neves d'Almeida, a.k.a.
"Mindinha". Both are important works in the classical guitar repertory.
In Villa-Lobos's early childhood, Brazil underwent a period of social revolution and modernisation, abolishing slavery in 1888 and overthrowing the Empire of Brazil
in 1889. The changes in Brazil were reflected in its musical life:
previously European music had been the dominant influence, and the
courses at the Conservatório de Música were grounded in traditional counterpoint and harmony.
Villa-Lobos underwent very little of this formal training. After a few
abortive harmony lessons, he learnt music by illicit observation from
the top of the stairs of the regular musical evenings at his house
arranged by his father. He learned to play cello, clarinet, and
classical guitar. When his father died suddenly in 1899 he earned a
living for his family by playing in cinema and theater orchestras in
Rio.
The cruzado was the currency of Brazil from 1986 to 1989. It replaced the second cruzeiro (at first called the "cruzeiro novo") in 1986, at a rate of 1 cruzado = 1000 cruzeiros (novos) and was replaced in 1989 by the cruzado novo at a rate of 1000 cruzados = 1 cruzado novo. The first banknotes were overprints on cruzeiro notes, in denominations
of 10, 50 and 100 cruzados. Regular notes followed in denominations of
10, 50, 100 and 500 cruzados. Villa-Lobos was printed on the 500 denomination.
Obverse of a Brazilian 500 cruzados banknote. The banknote featuring Heitor Villa-Lobos, composer, cellist, pianist and guitarist. Background; A lithograph of Walter Fitch, see also Victoria amazonica.
Reverse of a Brazilian 500 cruzados banknote. The banknote shows Heitor Villa-Lobos as a conductor, with the background a lithograph of Johann Moritz Rugendas.
In 1977 a postage stamp was printed in Brazil honoring Heitor Villa-Lobos. The Stamp was designed by Martha Popp.
The same year, in 1977 a commemorative postage stamp was printed in Cuba which also honored Heitor Villa-Lobos.
This recording is by Sir Eugene Goossens conducting The London Symphony Orchestra (link below) and is more in the Eurocentric style but a later recording by the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, conducted by Roberto Minczuk, has more of a Brazilian flavor that is a bit sensual I think Villa-Lobos would have loved (link below). George Benson did a cover of Train; it is jazzy, VERY fast and VERY frenetic; not too keen on it (link below).
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
From Bachianas Brasiliensis No. 2
Composed By – Heitor Villa-Lobos
A1 - The Little Train Of The Caipira
Estancia (Ballet Suite)
Composed By – Alberto Ginastera
A2 - 1. The Land Workers
A3 - 2. Wheat Dance
A4 - 3. The Cattlemen
A5 - 4. Final Dance "Malambo"
Composed By – Heitor Villa-Lobos
A1 - The Little Train Of The Caipira
Estancia (Ballet Suite)
Composed By – Alberto Ginastera
A2 - 1. The Land Workers
A3 - 2. Wheat Dance
A4 - 3. The Cattlemen
A5 - 4. Final Dance "Malambo"
Side 2:
Panambi Suite (Ballet Suite)
Composed By – Alberto Ginastera
B1 - 1. Moonlight On The Parana
B2 - 2. Invocation Of The Powerful Spirits
B3 - 3. Lament Of The Maidens
B4 - 4. Rondo Of The Maidens / Dance Of The Warriors
Companies, etc.
Record Company – Belock Instrument Corporation
Recorded At – Walthamstow Assembly Hall
Pressed By – Allentown Record Co. Inc.
Credits:
Conductor – Sir Eugene Goossens
Cover design by Fernando Salles
Liner Notes – David Hall (10), Paul Affelder
Orchestra – The London Symphony Orchestra*
Producer [Uncredited] – John Carewe
Notes:
Silver Back, Pink & Gold First Pressing label
Recorded April 25, 1958 at Walthamstow Assembly Hall
Liner Notes – David Hall (10), Paul Affelder
Orchestra – The London Symphony Orchestra*
Producer [Uncredited] – John Carewe
Notes:
Silver Back, Pink & Gold First Pressing label
Recorded April 25, 1958 at Walthamstow Assembly Hall
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Other (Library Of Congress Catalog Card Nos.): R 59-1455, R 59-1456
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A): SDBR-3041-1 T2 ARC
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B): SDBR-3041-2 T2 ARC
Pressing Plant ID: ARC
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A): SDBR-3041-1 T2 ARC
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B): SDBR-3041-2 T2 ARC
Pressing Plant ID: ARC
Villa-Lobos* / Ginastera* - Sir Eugene Goossens Conducting The London Symphony Orchestra* – The Little Train Of The Caipira / Estancia - Panambi
Label: Everest – SDBR 3041
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo, Silver Back
Country: US
Released: Feb 1960
Genre: Classical
Style: Modern, Impressionist, Contemporary
Styrous® ~ Sunday, July 19, 2020
Label: Everest – SDBR 3041
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo, Silver Back
Country: US
Released: Feb 1960
Genre: Classical
Style: Modern, Impressionist, Contemporary
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Clap for Classics ~ A train ride through Brazil
Class Notes ~ Listening Lesson: Little Train of Caipira
Classical Music Central ~ Little Train of the Caipira - Sir Eugene Goossens
YouTube links:
George Benson ~ Little Train (From Bachianas Brasileiras #2)
Sir Eugene Goossens ~ Little Train of the Caipira
Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira ~ Little Train of the Caipira
Johann Moritz Rugendas articles/mentions
mentions:
Heitor Villa-Lobos ~ Little Train of the Caipira
date & photographer unknown
Heitor Villa-Lobos articles/mentions
March 11, 2018
20,000 vinyl LPs 131: Arthur Honegger ~ Pacific 231
Arthur Honegger (French: [aʁtyʁ ɔnɛɡɛːʁ]; was a Swiss composer, who was widely known as a train enthusiast, and once notably said:
"I have always loved locomotives passionately. For me they are living
creatures and I love them as others love women or horses." His
"mouvement symphonique" Pacific 231 (a depiction of a steam locomotive) gained him early notoriety in 1923.
He insisted that he wrote it as an exercise in building momentum while the tempo of the piece slows. It is post-impressionism bordering on modern music with it's dissonance and harsh harmonics. His orchestral piece, Pacific 231, is his most frequently performed work.
vinyl lp foil cover
photo by Styrous®
The orchestration consists of 2 flutes, piccolo flute, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon – 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, – 4 percussionists (tenor drum, cymbal, bass drum, tam tam) – strings.
He originally titled it Mouvement Symphonique, only giving it the name Pacific 231, which is a class of steam locomotive designated in Whyte notation as a 4-6-2, with four pilot wheels, six driving wheels, and two trailing wheels (the French, who count axles rather than wheels when describing locomotives, call this arrangement 2-3-1) after the work was finished.
A 1949 French award-winning film, Pacific 231, directed by Jean Mitry, used the orchestral work as the sound track for a tribute to the steam locomotive, and included close-up footage of driving wheels, running gear and railroad operations, mostly taken at speed, and cut/choreographed to the music (link below).
It would be interesting to pair Pacific 231 with the images of locomotive-fixated photographer, William S. (Simrell) Young.
It is also interesting to compare Pacific 231 with the Villa-Lobos piece of music based on a locomotive, The Little Train of the Caipira, (YouTube link below) from his Bachianas brasileiras No. 2. Where Honegger's piece is harsh, brash and agressive, The Little Train is gentle like a sensual samba (Villa-Lobos WAS from Brazil, after all) with occaional blasts to let you know it's a train we're talkin' about. Maybe it's the Northern European vs. the Latin-American temperment that is demonstrated by the two works.
vinyl lp foil cover detail
photo by Styrous®
His "dramatic psalm" Le Roi David (King David), made him a star in the music world in the early 1920s; it is still in the choral repertoire. Between World War I and World War II, Honegger was very prolific. He composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works, among many other works.
He composed the music for the Abel Gance epic 1927 silent film, Napoléon. I saw Napoléon with full orchestra accompaniment in Oakland at the Art Deco Paramount Theater.
Honegger was born on March 10, 1892, in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He died on November 27, 1955.
vinyl lp, side 1
photo by Styrous®
vinyl lp, side 1
photo by Styrous®
YouTube links:
Pacific 231
Jean Mitry ~ Pacific 231 film (9 min., 9 sec.)
Villa-Lobos ~ Little Train of the Caipira
"I have always had a passionate love for locomotives!"
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