SOUNDS
OF BRAZIL
QUINTET OF THE
AMERICAS
Sato
Moughalian
flute
Matt Sullivan
oboe
Edward R. Gilmore
clarinet
Laura Koepke
bassoon
Barbara Oldham horn
Gaudencio Thiago
de Mello
organic
percussion
Blair McMillen piano
$14.95 ~ MS1279
"This is a most enchanting release. It traces the evolution
of Brazilian music from one of its indigenous roots as exemplified by the seven
songs, interwoven throughout the program, of contemporary composer Gaudencio
Thiago de Mello who grew up in the Amazonian rain forest and is saturated by its
spirit. He proves to be a striking melodist whose tunes, given the fine
arrangements here and accompanied by their composer playing organic percussion,
provide a recurring reference point as the listener is taken through the music
of the pioneering Ernesto Nazareth (1863–1934), through that of Pixinguinha
(the composer of Tica tica non fuba) toward that of the most traditionally
trained Ricardo Romaneiro and Marcelo Zarvos. Their two pieces were originally
scored for the instrumentation encountered here, and though they are the most
formally studied of the lot, they, paradoxically, elucidate and amplify their
composers’ heritage in vivid colors.
Brazil
has largely been terra incognita as far as most readers of Fanfare (dedicated
to “serious record collectors”) are concerned. In past pieces for this and
other publications, I have noted that in
Brazil
the demarcation between jazz, pop, and “serious” music doesn’t exist.
Heitor Villa-Lobos consistently worked within that paradigm and provided pieces
that still undermine our notion of what is truly classical while, at the same
time, becoming so. In Villa-Lobos’s mind, Euro-centric procedures were not
essential, but they could provide the means to enhance the native musical
languages he loved, explored, and pursued.
Ernesto Nazareth was the first Brazilian
composer to meld European and North American musical forms with indigenous
accents, paving the way for Pixinguinha, Villa-Lobos, and all the subsequent
composers on this offering. Incidentally, Nazareth’s Brajeiro was cribbed by Darius Milhaud in his ballet, Le boeuf sur le
toit.
Nazareth, alas, sold the rights to that most popular and enduring Brazilian tango for a
proverbial song.
The virtuosic prowess of these performing musicians, aided
by MSR’s airy and detailed sound, offers a most satisfying and enligzhtening
odyssey. Before I leave this review, a definition of the term “organic
percussion” is in order. Gaudencio Thiago de Mello creates his percussion
instruments from things he finds naturally growing in the Amazon rainforest. One
cannot be more indigenous than that."
William Zagorski, Fanfare ~ November /
December 2009
"The
Quintet is a tight ensemble fusing their remarkably different timbres into a
virtuosic panorama that pulses with energy and excitement. The rhythmic
teamwork, artistic commitment, and risk-taking make the recording hard to put
down, and their guest collaborators bring a similar amount of skill and
investment. The whole program is enjoyable, well worth the price..."
Hanudel,
American Record Guide ~ September / October 2009
"Coupled with the quintet's
highly lyrical playing of de Mello's warm-hearted melodies, the effect is
charming... Some of the music is
popular in tone, with catchy melodies and infectious rhythms, and it should
appeal to listeners beguiled by that type of Latinate sound. The performances
are uniformly excellent; each member of the Quintet is a characterful soloist,
but their blend and balance as an ensemble is exemplary, and their ability to
integrate their playing with de Mello's organic percussion is admirable.
MSR Classics' digital sound is evocative..."
James
Leonard, All Music Guide ~ June 2009
The
Quintet of the Americas is one of the Western Hemisphere’s finest chamber
ensembles. The Washington Post has called their performances, "Musical
dialogue at the highest level" and Japan’s InTune Magazine has
written about them, "Their virtuosity, balances, articulation and
intonation mark them as one of the world's top wind quintets. I have never heard
finer playing." The Quintet is in residence in The Department of
Music and Performing Arts in The Steinhardt School at New York University.
*
* *
Since
its founding in Colombia in 1976, Quintet of the Americas has delighted in
performing music of South America. Following its successful recording Dancing
in Colombia, the ensemble is proud to be releasing this CD of music with
Brazilian roots. The idea for this disc originated with the Quintet’s
arrangements of music by Ernesto Nazareth and Pixinguinha. More music from
Brazil was added to the Quintet’s collection when their long-time friend and
inspiration, Thiago de Mello, began performing with the Quintet in arrangements
of his songs by Daniel Wolff. Further collaborations with Brazilian pianist and
composer Marcelo Zarvos led to the commissioning of Changes. Rounding out
the album is another commissioned work, Ventos, by a gifted young
composer on the New York scene, Ricardo Romaneiro.
*
* *
QUINTET
OF THE AMERICAS was
founded in 1976 in Bogotá, Colombia, by five players from the United States who
were the principal wind players of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional. Two-time
recipients of the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Adventuresome Programming Awards,
the Quintet’s programs have included repertoire as varied as commissioned
pieces involving electronic music, Sephardic music, Native American music, music
from the African Diaspora and music influenced by jazz, as well as music
involving the Quintet’s collection of folk instruments including drums,
flutes, rattles, conch horns, etc., and music with theatrical elements such as
lighting, masks, and choreography.
The
Quintet has toured extensively in the United States, and in Canada, Venezuela,
Colombia, the Caribbean, Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia. The Quintet is
currently in residence in the Department of Music and Performing Arts in the
Steinhardt School at New York University. The group’s extensive residency
experience has included the Chamber Music America Residency Program in Chicago
involving Northwestern University, the Chicago Youth Symphony and the People’s
Music School; Austin Peay State University (Tennessee); and several years at
Hunter College (New York) and New York’s Americas Society. The group has
performed outreach programs for Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, Lincoln
Center, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, 92nd Street Y, Midori and
Friends, Fondaçion Batuta in Colombia, Queens Symphony, and Young Audiences. In
2002, the Quintet gave master classes and concerts for the Special Secondary
Music School in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and at the National Conservatoire in Tbilisi,
Republic of Georgia. The Quintet presents a yearly one-week intensive Institute
for Woodwind Quintets and Wind Chamber Music at New York University for high
school and college students.
The
Quintet presented a Carnegie Hall debut recital in 1992 featuring three
commissions for Quintet with orchestra. Other important concerts have included
the Carnegie Hall American Music Week Series at Weill Recital Hall, the Bermuda
International Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Inter-American Festival in
Puerto Rico, the Bar Harbor Festival, the Chautauqua Festival, the Pan American
Music Festivals at the Library of Congress and the O.A.S. in Washington, the
Festival Internacional de Música Contemporanea in Bogotá, Colombia (1993), the
First International Congress on Women in Music; two Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors
Festivals, the International Flute Convention, and a two-day Villa-Lobos
centennial festival co-produced by the Quintet and SineNomine Singers, an 80th
birthday concert for Karel Husa, as well as appearances on retrospective
concerts of composers David del Tredici at Town Hall, Ursula Mamlok at Merkin
Concert Hall, and Ann McMillan at Greenwich House Music School.
The
Quintet has commissioned more than 50 works funded by Chamber Music America, New
York State Council on the Arts, the Serge Koussevitsky Foundation of the Library
of Congress, the Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer, the Mary Flagler Cary
Charitable Trust, and others. The Quintet’s CDs include Recollections, the
wind chamber music of Karel Husa (New World 2004), Dancing
in Colombia (MSR 2001), Quintet of the
Americas Self Portrait (CRI), Souvenirs (XLNT), Discovering the
New World (MMC), Never Sing Before
Breakfast (Newport Classics), and XANGO,
music of Villa-Lobos (Newport Classics).
