New Bratke piano disc The Villa-Lobos Magazine The third volume in Marcelo Bratke's complete Villa-Lobos piano music series is now out from Quartz Music. I love the cover! 3 days ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Museum Week programming at the Museu Villa... The Villa-Lobos Magazine Here is some interesting programming from the Museu Villa-Lobos later this month, in celebration of the 11th annual Museum Week. 12 days ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

The Cello Fantasia The Villa-Lobos Magazine Lars Hoefs and Rose Chen play the 2nd movement of the piano & cello version of the Fantasia for Cello & Orchestra. This is a great work, and one that I've been thinking about lots since I heard about the recent death of Janos Starker. Starker played the work with the Paraiba Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eleazar de Carvalho, on a classic Delos CD called A Brazilian Extravaganza. The cello and the guitar were Villa-Lobos's two favourite instruments: the ones he dreamed in. When I think of Villa-Lobos, I hear the sound of the cello (or lots of cellos) in my head. 23 days ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Bachianas Brasileiras #3 in Barcelona The Villa-Lobos Magazine The Third Bachianas Brasileiras is, after the 8th, the least-performed of the 9 works in Villa-Lobos's most popular series. It's a big, sprawling piano concerto, and it deserves to be played more often. Alexandre Tharaud and L'Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona under conductor Hernández Silva will perform the work three times in early May. Here are the latest numbers for performances in the Villa-Lobos Concert Database (2001-2013): Bachianas Brasileiras #1 (89) Bachianas Brasileiras #2 (142) Bachianas Brasileiras #3 (27) Bachianas Brasileiras #4 (236) Bachianas Brasileiras #5 (377) Bachianas Brasileiras #6 (82) Bachianas Brasileiras #7 (33) Bachianas Brasileiras #8 (22) Bachianas Brasileiras #9 (103) 25 days ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Leonard Bernstein's The Latin American Spirit The Villa-Lobos Magazine Part of the script for Leonard Bernstein's The Latin American Spirit, one of his famous Young People's Concerts broadcast on CBS Television. The full script is here. and the original marked-up scripts can be found at the Library of Congress website. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Uirapuru from Madrid The Villa-Lobos Magazine From Madrid, a performance of Villa's first great orchestral work, Uirapuru. This is from a November 2012 concert. Carlos Kalmar conducts the Orquesta Sinfonica de RTVE. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Carlé Costa concert in Lucerne The Villa-Lobos Magazine Carlé Costa plays the 12 Etudes at a concert in Lucerne in June. I highly recommend his recent Villa-Lobos CD Alma de uma terra. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

OSB plays BB#7 The Villa-Lobos Magazine The last movement from Bachianas Brasileiras no. 7, played by OSB, conducted by Roberto Minczuk. This is a from a concert earlier this month. 1 month ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Amilton Godoy plays O trenzinho do Caipira The Villa-Lobos Magazine Pianist Amilton Godoy plays a beautiful jazz arrangement of the Trenzinho do Caipira movement from Bachianas Brasileiras no. 2, which has become almost a national song in Brazil. 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

The Talich String Quartet plays Villa-Lobos The Villa-Lobos Magazine The Talich String Quartet recently added the 1st Villa-Lobos String Quartet to their repertoire, playing it in a January 2013 concert in Switzerland. They play the Melancolia 5th movement in this live recording from Vermont Public Radio. The Villa-Lobos finishes the program, after music by Beethoven, Dvorak, Ravel and Debussy. 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story