Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: I. Aria (Cantilena)

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos I. Aria (Cantilena) Poet (text): Ruth Valadares Corrêa Alina Roitstein-Anderies (soprano), Betsy Rettig (cello) and Natalia Hudson (piano) website: www.melosmusic.us Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music” and has become the best-known South American composer of all time. A prolific composer, he wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works, totaling over 2000 works. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and by stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras (Brazilian Bachian-pieces). These take the forms and nationalism of the Chôros, an instrumental Brazilian popular music genre characterized by virtuosity, improvisation and subtle modulations, and add the composer's love of Bach. The Aria No. 5 for soprano and eight cellos is one of his most popular works and also shows the composer's love for the tonal qualities of the cello.