Here is the stunning beginning to what promises to be one of the most important, interesting, and sonically thrilling musical discoveries of the new century: the complete symphonies of Villa-Lobos. Conventional wisdom has hurt these pieces (and there are 12 of them), claiming (a) the music isn’t as appealing as the exotic, “free form” Bachianas Brasileiras or Choros pieces; (b) this exuberant composer somehow went musically anal-retentive when attempting to write a symphony, resulting in music that sounds somehow “inhibited” and unsatisfying; (c) Villa-Lobos hadn’t a clue what to do with music in traditional symphonic form. The composer’s supporters and fans have countered these arguments with: (a) there’s nothing particularly “free form” about the Bachianas Brasileiras, many of which are in four movement symphonic form, or Baroque prelude and fugue form, or both; (b) the evidence of the few symphonies that get performed and recorded–the Fourth and Sixth to date–shows that the composer is very much his completely uninhibited self in both cases; (c) anyone who can write 17 magnificent string quartets surely knows what it means to write a symphony.
By taking one symphony from the beginning and another from the end of the composer’s long and productive career, CPO has certainly thrown down the gauntlet and settled this matter once and for all. The prize goes to Villa-Lobos fans everywhere, for these are magnificent works, every bit as tuneful, colorful, and musically rewarding as the composer’s better known pieces. This music is thrilling. The First Symphony is a thickly scored, exuberant work that features every compositional trademark we have come to expect: the dark sonorities of trombones and cellos, lush displays of exotic foliage from the wind section, and primal percussion. The finale, in particular, builds to one of the most exciting and satisfying endings in the 20th century symphonic repertoire. The 11th Symphony, by contrast, obviously is a later work. It’s scored with greater clarity, develops its themes with real economy and skill, and features two very tragic initial movements followed by a light-hearted scherzo. It’s crowned by a remarkable finale in which a Brazilian shepherd toys with the horn call from the last movement of Beethoven’s Sixth, before the orchestra rebukes him with something far more typically South American.
To claim that Carl St. Clair and the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart do this music proud would be a major understatement. They are exceptional. The violins fling themselves at Villa-Lobos’ excruciatingly difficult (and high) musical lines with near suicidal enthusiasm; trombones, bass clarinet, and bassoons grunt and rasp like jungle creatures; exotic percussion, harps, celeste, and piano cut through the texture with laser-like clarity, and it’s all recorded in sumptuous, totally honest sound. St. Clair conducts as though he has known this music all his life, letting each climax register with maximum impact, making those strange, haunting melodies really sing, and whipping up the excitement to fever pitch in the two finales. This music offers a rush that’s almost physical. This is my 1999 Disc of the Year. More please, and quickly.
