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Villa-Lobos' music is an old passion of mine and trying to write something about him is one of the very few times when I find myself tongue-tied. Fortunately, there's a wonderful web site dedicated to Villa-Lobos in, of all places, Canada. (The site is no longer being updated, but it's still there.) But some of the best recordings of his music came out of the Brazilian label Kuarup Discos (which closed down in January 2009). The liner notes about the man and his music (including technical analysis of each quartet and an interview with the violinist Mariuccia Iacovino, one of his favorite interpreters) are excellent, but unfortunately you need to be able to read Portuguese!
There's a wonderful Villa-Lobos Museum in Rio. They're in the process of digitizing all his music. Keep checking with them.
All CDs donated to our site automatically become part of the Sheila Thomson Collection of Brazilian Culture at Florida International University in Miami.
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O Papagaio do Moleque. You must have realized by now that we are picky, picky when it comes to CD releases. Well, here's another gem for you by our favorite instrumental group, Rabo de Lagartixa: all Villa-Lobos music in spectacular arrangements for this choro ensemble. |
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Villa por Chorões. The music of Villa-Lobos interpreted by master chorões, including a very original version of Choros nº 1 for cavaquinho and 7-string guitar by Henrique Cazes and Marcello Gonçalves. |
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Quarteto Amazônia: Villa-Lobos Quartetos de Cordas 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. |
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Heitor Villa-Lobos: Os Choros de Câmara. This is the CD that started the label, because there were no good recordings of this music and Mário de Aratanha decided he had to do it himself. The rest is, of course, Brazilian music history! |
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Villa-Lobos: Quartetos de Cordas. |
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Heitor Villa-Lobos: Concertos para solista e orquestra. With Paulo Moura on saxophone and Turíbio Santos on violão. |