Preludes & Dances from Brazil
Sérgio Assad (b.1952)
Colloquial Preludes (c.2021-2023)
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1857-1959)
Préludes, W.419 (1940)
Suite populaire brésillienne, W020 (1928, revised 1947-48)
Ricardo Gallén (guitar)
rec. 2023, Monastery of San Francisco, ávila, Spain
First recording: Assad
Eudora EUDSACD2051 [78]
This lovely disc, full of beautiful music, very well played and superbly recorded, is a triumph for the deservedly renowned Spanish guitarist Ricardo Gallén and a fitting tribute to two of the most important Brazilian composers, Sérgio Assad and Heitor Villa-Lobos. The recording was made in the restored 13th century Monastery of San Francisco in Avila, which was left in ruins after the Napoleonic invasion of Spain; it has since been attractively restored and is now in use as an auditorium for musical performances,
First up is a set of Preludes, Colloquial Preludes, by Sérgio Assad. These preludes were commissioned by Ricardo Gallén and, appropriately, they are dedicated to him. They are here recorded for the first time. Sérgio Assad also contributes an essay to the booklet accompanying the CD. There are 12 Colloquial Preludes in the set, all of them concise and purposeful – the longest (No.10 in F sharp minor) is 3:44, the shortest (No. 1 in C major) is 1:29. The keys used are, as Assad points out in his contribution to the booklet, in “the twelve most common keys in guitar composition”. The first ‘Colloquial Prelude’, as noted above, is in C major, its opening played with great clarity of articulation by Ricardo Gallén, despite the requirement for some very rapid fingering. Indeed, Gallén’s playing throughout these twelve preludes is very impressive, not least in No.3 (in G major), which is full of complex figures, all of which Gallén negotiates with seeming ease. By way of contrast, No.4 (in E minor) is full of a kind of slow dreaminess, from which passages of plaintive thought emerge. It would be tedious (not least for the reader) were I to comment individually on all 12 of this set of Preludes. Yet No. 9 (in A major) cannot easily be ignored. This is a demandingly virtuosic piece, occupying nearly two very rapid minutes in this performance. Gallén’s account is, again, cogent and accurate throughout this swift miniature, with no sign of a wrong note or any loss of shape or line. As played here, in their premiere recording, there is no point at which any one of these twelve Colloquial Preludes comes close to outstaying its welcome: indeed, there are several cases where one wishes that a particular prelude might be a little longer. The changes of mood and tempo as one listens to all 12 pieces makes the whole sequence engaging and rewarding.
Villa-Lobos’s Préludes (W419) are striking and sophisticated works (there were apparently originally 6, rather than 5 preludes in the set, but the sixth seems to be lost – see J.W. Schaffer, ‘Villa-Lobos’ ‘Elusive 6th Prelude’, Guitar and Lute. October 1980). Each of the surviving preludes is given a subtitle in the score, No.1 being identified thus, ‘Lyric Melody – Homage to the Brazilian sertanejo.’ This Prélude explores the guitar’s sonic vocabulary, beginning with a melody in the bass (accompanied by open treble strings). This melody ascends several times, with each of these ascents ending a note higher than its predecessor. In the B section of this ternary prelude, the melody is now in the treble strings, with the accompaniment largely in the bass. The yearning emotion of Section A’s melody is now replaced by something altogether more vivacious and upbeat. Ricardo Gallén’s playing lays out this structure very clearly for the listener, with the B section being repeated, before the A Section returns and this lovely piece close with a low E major chord.
Prélude No.3 in A minor is perhaps the finest of the set. Its subtitle is ‘Homage to Bach’ and it is amongst Villa Lobos’ best fusions of Brazilian and baroque influences. The A Section is full of arpeggios and extended harmonies, relished, but not excessively so, by Ricardo Gallén, giving this section an almost improvisational quality. The B section, by way of contrast, is characterised by some step-like descents and this, surely, is where the affinity with Bach is most forcefully felt. The composer’s ears and creative intelligence were alike open to European and Brazilian examples; as Joy Huether points out “In 1923, during his first stay in Paris, which lasted almost a year, he met many musicians and composers, including Ravel, Dukas, de Falla, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Honegger, Roussel, Schmitt, d’Indy, Varese, and Segovia” (Joy Huether, ‘Villa-Lobos’s ‘Cinq Préludes: An Analysis of Influences’, MA Dissertation, University of Oregon, 2011). In everything he does in these Préludes, Riccardo Gallén is alert to the interplay of influences, both in terms of detail and musical architecture and the result is altogether delightful.
I have never been as enthusiastic about the Suite populaire brésillienne as I have about a number of other works by Villa-Lobos. The level of invention is lower than it is in the composer’s best work, and there is something slightly mechanical about the individual pieces which make up the suite; even the way their titles are formed, such as ‘Mazurka-Chôro’ and ‘Valsa-Chôro’ seems to suggest that their two elements, a European dance and the Brazilian form of Chôro have been juxtaposed, rather than fused, as they are in the composer’s best works. The Suite populaire exists in two versions; one published in 1928 and a second version revised in the late 1940s and published in 1954. It is this later revision which Ricardo Gallén plays on this disc. The chôro referenced in the titles of the Suite populaire is, of course, a popular form of urban street music which, in its earliest incarnations was performed by trio of flute, guitar and cavaquinto (a Brazilian member of the guitar family, though smaller than the guitar – and played with a pick). The word chôro is derived from the Portuguese for ‘weeping’ or ‘crying’. The young Villa-Lobos was active amongst the street musicians (choröes), and was thoroughly familiar with the form. I find the emotional range of the pieces making up the Suite populaire insufficiently various to make them completely satisfying. But I have no wish to criticise Ricardo Gallén’s performance. My overall feeling about this disc remains very positive.
Glyn Pursglove
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