Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky has attempted, with considerable success, to revive the symphonies of his countryman Heitor Villa-Lobos in a complete series of them released on the Naxos label. It's understandable why this pair of early works, dating from the World War I years, has been left for last: they have little of the Brazilian flavor that marks the composer's later works, and they draw variously on French and Russian models. The Symphony No. 2 ("Ascensão"), in fact, is a work whose nationality you'd guess ...
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Brazilian conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky has attempted, with considerable success, to revive the symphonies of his countryman Heitor Villa-Lobos in a complete series of them released on the Naxos label. It's understandable why this pair of early works, dating from the World War I years, has been left for last: they have little of the Brazilian flavor that marks the composer's later works, and they draw variously on French and Russian models. The Symphony No. 2 ("Ascensão"), in fact, is a work whose nationality you'd guess was Russian if you had to pick. That piece was composed in 1917, but not given its premiere until 1944 despite its composer's fame. The Symphony No. 1 ("O Imprevisto") follows d'Indy and the French conservatory style prevalent in Brazil at the time. The most persuasive sections are the slow movements, which anticipate the lyricism, if not the economy, of the Bachianas Brasileiras, and these are likely to be of considerable interest to Villa-Lobos fans. The playing of the São Paulo...
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