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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
About time this neglected Villa-Lobos was recorded!, 26 Sep 2003
This composer was game to try his hand at anything, symphonies included. Until Carl St. Clair and the Stuttgart Orchestra undertook to record the set (as far as they could), the only exposure the symphonies had on record was the 4th & 6th - the 4th in a ragged performance conducted by the composer, hardly aimed at enamouring his public. This was superseded by Enrique Arturo Diemecke's recording in 1996; then Carl St Clair's. No 6 was recently recorded by Duarte and St Clair. As an aside, No 2 briefly sprawled itself across a bootleg LP many years ago, again conducted by the composer and not something for the faint-hearted!With Villa-Lobos' vast output of tone poems, ballets, etc, one could be forgiven saying, "Oh, no! Villa-Lobos is at it again!" and wonder what he'd make of the symphonic medium. He has acquitted himself rather well, showing a mastery of orchestration and form not revealed in many of his non-symphonic works. This is helped, of course by St Clair's sensitive handling and an excellent orchestra. I won't claim that Villa-Lobos obeys classical symphonic form: his first movements aren't all in Sonata form. But he shows remarkable discipline and restraint in the way he develops his material. Like most listeners (I imagine) I had heard neither works before this recording. The 3rd Symphony sounds deceptively simple. I can guess from past experience of Villa-Lobos that it hides a frightening technical complexity. Listen, for instance, to the interplay of components making up the third movement texture, or the opening to the fourth. It is carried off with brilliance by this conductor and orchestra without the texture becoming clogged - a miracle when Villa-Lobos writes at this density! Never once do we fear that St Clair might lose control. The first movement flows beautifully - music anticipating "Forest of the Amazon" 35 years later. It makes use of whole-tone phrases without ever sounding Debussian. If anything, it is this and the third (slow) movement that leads us to realise just how well the composer could handle symphonic style if he chose to. Only the last movement reminds us that we're never far away from the familiar Villa-Lobos with his thick textures and relentless complexity. The 9th Symphony is succinct and more abstract, depending less on expansive melodic lines than motifs. The texture is thinner and at times the line is almost translucent (the Adagio, for instance). An easy work to assimilate with stylistic hints of "The Discovery of Brazil" suite. From the first few bars it is instantly recognisable as Villa-Lobos. The "Overture de l'Homme Tel" shows just how absorbing one of his orchestral works can be in sensitive hands and with an excellent recording. With such interpretations one begins to see Villa-Lobos in a new light - a pleasant one at that. We have been dogged too long by inadequate performances and indifferent recording, a situation this series seems to redress. All in all, excellent value and music. Villa-Lobos with light and air, and no stodge! It wins 5 stars. I now await St Clair's version of the 2nd Symphony.
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~ Heitor Villa-Lobos
~ Heitor Villa-Lobos
~ Heitor Villa-Lobos
~ Heitor Villa-Lobos
~ Heitor Villa-Lobos
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