Customer Reviews

Villa-Lobos: Symphony No. 10 "Amerindia

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although I am slightly biased, being a member of the Santa Barbara Choral Society, I thought that this CD was fantastic, just like it was when we performed it in the Arlington Theatre. The CD was much anticipated by me, and the rest of the choir, and it lives up to all expectations. This being the first commercial recording of this work, we had no idea what we were getting into. Gisele Ben-Dor really took a hold of this one, and came up with wonderful results! Even for those without an ear for classical music, this CD will show the great diversities of music, and is bound to end up as a favorite. I feel truly honored to be on a recording such as this.

The Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos was undoubtedly one of the 20th century's greatest composers, and yet even now he is only known internationally for his admittedly excellent "Bachianas Brasilieras." Conductor Gisele Ben-Dor and her excellent Santa Barbara Symphony went out of their way expand peoples' knowledge of the composer by making this world-premiere recording of his Symphony No. 10 of 1957, known as the "Amerindia." The results are splendid--a work that combines 20th century orchestral color and texts from Latin, Portugese, and South American Indian sources into a memorable collage. Both Ben-Dor and her orchestra are at their top-notch best in this recording, as are vocal soloists Carla Wood, Carlo Sciabelli, and Nmon Ford-Livene, and the choral forces from the Santa Barbara area. Vigorously recommended for contemporary classical fans!

For me, Gisele Ben-Dor's recording of the Villa-Lobos 10th represents one extraordinary day of recording with an brilliant young conductor, great soloists, and an orchestra and chorus giving the best the have. As a recording producer, I have rarely come across an artist with Gisele's rare combination of dynamism and emotional generosity. I could add her sense of orchestral color and rhythmic drive. We were all exhausted at the end of that long day at the Ormond Theatre and as I left with the raw tapes, scores with hundreds of marks and post-it notes, I knew that the end result would be nothing short of fabulous.

It's hard to find words to describe how excited I am about finding and listening to this disc. Here's a great work by Villa-Lobos which I didn't know existed, and this world-premiere recording is marvelous. We got to know Gisele Ben-Dor when she conducted the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra (Cambridge, Mass.), where she was a fountain of energy, an inspiration to the orchestra, and an excellent concert programmer for the enthusiastic local audience.

It's interesting to read in the notes for this CD that she traveled to Paris to listed to the reel-to-reel tapes of a 1957 performance conducted by the composer, and found it to be a not-very-good one, and further had to do a lot of "reconstruction" and editing of the score. The result is a consistent, coherent performance which would certainly please the composer.

This work was written for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Sao Paolo in 1952, but was not performed then. The first movement, for orchestra alone, is entitled "The Earth and Its Creatures," and is a brilliant display of Villa-Lobos' orchestral technique and sound-painting. Though it may sound raucous on first hearing, it's a perect example of Villa-Lobos' impression of virgin land, with twittering birdcalls, and all manner of creatures roaming the land. The orchestral playing is precise and sumptuous, and the 8 or 9 minutes of the piece seem to go by in an instant. The chorus enters in the second movement, with the women's voices floating as a gossamer veil over quiet background. I'll skip more play-by-play and jump to the final movement; there, in the last minute or so, is one of the most astonishing and exciting conclusions you could imagine, as the final Alleluia celebrates the day of the founding of Sao Paolo.

I'd recommend this disc as a necesary component of any serious Villa-Lobos collection, standing alongside works such as the Forest of the Amazon and the Discover of Brazil suites. And to the previous reviewer, who was a member of the chorus: Great Job!

For me, Gisele Ben-Dor's recording of the Villa-Lobos 10th represents one extraordinary day of recording with an extraordinary young conductor, great young soloists, and an orchestra and chorus giving the best the have. As a recording producer, I have rarely come across an artist with Gisele's rare combination of dynamism and emotional generosity. I could add her sense of orchestral color and rhythmic drive. We were all exhausted at the end of that long day at the Ormond Theatre and as I left with the raw tapes, scores with hundreds of marks and post-it notes, I knew that the end result would be nothing short of fabulous.