By the end of World War I Heitor Villa-Lobos was 30 years old and had composed the symphonic poem Amazonas, the first of his breakthroughs in incorporating Brazilian material into a modern rather than Romantic-nationalistic idiom. A full turn in this direction was yet to come, however, and the two symphonies heard here are not characteristically Brazilian in style. They were part of a trilogy commissioned by the Brazilian government to celebrate end of World War I (in which Brazil fought on the Allies' side); the third work ...
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By the end of World War I Heitor Villa-Lobos was 30 years old and had composed the symphonic poem Amazonas, the first of his breakthroughs in incorporating Brazilian material into a modern rather than Romantic-nationalistic idiom. A full turn in this direction was yet to come, however, and the two symphonies heard here are not characteristically Brazilian in style. They were part of a trilogy commissioned by the Brazilian government to celebrate end of World War I (in which Brazil fought on the Allies' side); the third work, the Symphony No. 5 ("Peace"), has apparently been lost. The two remaining works are sprawling programmatic pieces that gleefully overflow with ideas even if they could be called diffuse. The Symphony No. 3 finale quotes both "La Marseillaise" and the Brazilian national anthem, but not even the Symphony No. 4 ("Victory") has a militaristic mood. It is, if anything, subdued. The Symphony No. 3 ("War") ends almost in mid-battle and features a unique second movement depicting the...
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