HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959)

 

Choros Vol. 2

 

Choros No. 1 for guitar (1920)

Choros No. 4 for 3 horns & trombone (1926)

Choros No. 6 for orchestra (1926)

Choros No. 8 for large orchestra & 2 pianos (1925)

Choros No. 9 for orchestra (1929)

 

Fabio Zanon - guitar

Dante Yenque, Ozéas Arantes & Samuel Hamzem - horn

Darrin Coleman Milling - bass trombone

Linda Bustani and Ilan Rechtman - piano

 

São Paulo Symphony Orchestra / John Neschling

 

The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) takes on the Choros by Heitor Villa-Lobos in a cycle supervised by the orchestra’s artistic director John Neschling. In the Choros, composed between 1920 and 1929, Villa-Lobos’ point of departure is the Brazilian popular genre called choro, and he described his Choros as a synthesis of ‘the different modalities of indigenous and popular Brazilian music’, adding that the word ‘serenade’ gives an approximate idea of what Choros is. This vagueness was probably intentional - Villa-Lobos wanted to catch the improvisatory aspect of the genre, and as a result the works are very varied.

 

The cycle includes brief solo pieces, chamber settings and full-length works for large symphony orchestra, with or without solo instruments or choir. Volume 2 includes the first of the Choros, for solo guitar, as well as No. 4 for three horns & trombone, but also three large-scale orchestral works, adding further facets to this fascinating and kaleidoscopic cycle.

 

BIS BISCD1450