Progetto Martha Argerich

italiano

Works

Heitor Villa-Lobos

Chôros No. 5

 

Heitor Villa-Lobos, was the most important Brazilian composer of the 20th century. He was basically self-educated: he learned to play the piano, cello, and a few wind instruments on his own, and he even began to teach himself to compose, eventually leaving a vast quantity of works that vary in quality. Among these there are various Chôros for the most widely variegated instrumental combinations. In Brazilian folk music, the chôro is an improvisational form, but Villa-Lobos uses the term to refer to all of his country’s various types of music, which draw upon the traditions of the peoples who inhabited Brazil: Indios, Africans and Europeans). The Chôro No. 5, for piano, was composed in 1925 and is subtitled Alma brasileira (Brazilian Soul); it is a short piece in a slow tempo, with a more rhythmically agitated middle section – a sort of life-enhancing explosion that quickly calms down and gives way to a more tranquil ending.

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