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Tag: David Soyer

Villa-Lobos: Joan Baez Sings Bachianas Brasileiras

On the birthday of Brazil’s most celebrated composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, here’s an interesting curio: his most famous music, the “Aria” from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, sung by none other than Joan Baez.

It was the composer’s aim in his nine suites for various instrumental combinations (and this one with voice) to fuse the folk spirit of his native land with the forms of Johann Sebastian Bach.

No. 5 consists of two movements. The “Aria (Cantilena)” is one of the most famous pieces of classical music to come out of the 20th century. Here’s an English translation of the text, a poem by Ruth Corrêa, which is sung in Portuguese:

“In the evening, a dreamy, pretty cloud, slow and transparent, covers outer space with pink. In the infinite the moon rises sweetly, beautifying the evening, like a friendly girl who prepares herself and dreamily makes the evening beautiful. A soul anxious to be pretty shouts to the sky, the land, all of Nature. The birds silence themselves to her complaints, and the sea reflects all of Her [the moon’s] wealth. The gentle light of the moon now awakens the cruel saudade [nostalgic or melancholic longing] that laughs and cries. In the evening, a dreamy, pretty cloud, slow and transparent, covers outer space with pink.”

For some reason, the “Aria” is mostly performed separately from the brief, contrasting “Dança (Martelo)” that follows (on a nostalgic poem by Manuel Bandeira about the birds of the Cariri Mountains).

In this performance, among the eight cellists that accompany the singer is David Soyer, he of Guarneri String Quartet fame. Soyer would have been 100 on February 24. The conductor is Maurice Abravanel, longtime music director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

Baez’s “Bachianas” appeared on her fifth album, “Joan Baez/5,” released in 1964 (the year the Guarneri Quartet was founded). The content was divided between contemporary and folk material. Interestingly, the liner notes were by Langston Hughes.

When released as a 45, the notes (which can be magnified at the link) were by musicologist and Beethoven and Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon.

https://www.45cat.com/record/tfe18014

The material on the B-side consists of the Neapolitan song “‘Nu Bello Cardillo” and the Mexican song, “El Preso Numero Nueve.”

Thanks, Joan, and happy birthday, Heitor Villa-Lobos!

The classic recording of Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, both the “Aria” and “Dansa,” with Victoria de los Angeles and the composer conducting:

Villa-Lobos conducts the complete set of Bachianas Brasileiras… and more! Consult the index under the video for direct links.

March 5, 2023
Michael Tree: Guarneri Quartet’s Legacy at Marlboro

A Tree grew at Marlboro. And so did everyone around him.

Michael Tree, of course, was violist of the landmark Guarneri Quartet that did so much to foster a love of chamber music in generations of musicians and audiences. Tree died on March 31 at the age of 84. He was preceded in death by Guarneri founding cellist David Soyer in 2010.

All the Guarneri personnel – including violinists Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley – have ties to the Marlboro Music School and Festival. Indeed, the quartet got its start at Marlboro in 1964. The four young men (all, except Soyer, in their early 20s) had played together at the festival in various permutations for two summers, when they were convinced by Rudolf Serkin and Alexander Schneider to form a more permanent union. Soyer retired from the ensemble in 2001. He was replaced by pupil-made-good Peter Wiley, formerly of the Beaux Arts Trio. Wiley has been active at Marlboro since the 1970s.

The quartet officially disbanded in 2009, after a 45 year run. Even so, its members would occasionally reunite to play with various ad hoc ensembles.

Unfortunately the Guarneri Marlboro concerts were not formally recorded. The Marlboro recording studio was not set up until 1965. Some recordings surfaced many years later, but these have not been vetted for broadcast. How fascinating it would have been to hear the Guarneri in Hindemith’s String Quartet No. 3! Happily, most of the quartet’s early repertoire was later documented on commercial releases.

What made this Tree especially great is that he nurtured the countless seedlings around him. He shared his invaluable insights and experience as a senior artist at Marlboro for 18 seasons. We’ll celebrate his legacy with performances of works by two very different composers. Tree will lend his violistic talents to Beethoven’s Serenade in D major, Op. 25, with flutist Christine Nield and violinist Young Uck Kim, at the 1980 Marlboro Music Festival, and Frank Bridge’s String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, with violinists Timothy Fain and Tien Hsin Cindy Wu and cellist Peter Myers, recorded in 2009.

Michael Tree remembers his roots even as he branches out, on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

April 4, 2018
Marlboro Music Greats on the Radio

We’ll have performances by artistic directors current and founding this week on “Music from Marlboro.”

Mitsuko Uchida, who has led the Marlboro Music School and Festival since 2013, will join violinist Soovin Kim and cellist David Soyer (of the legendary Guarneri Quartet) for Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio.

The Philadelphia-born Soyer, who taught at Marlboro for over 35 years, could be notoriously ornery. In particular, he was known for snapping at pianists for playing too loudly.

According to Uchida, “I avoided him for years because he was known to be nasty to pianists and because for him every pianist was too loud. We joked about it, but one day, I thought, listen, it’s about time that I risked being shouted at by David – ‘you are too loud!’ So I plucked up my courage and we did the ‘Archduke’ together with this wonderful violinist Soovin Kim. I think David tolerated me for the first week because of his love for Soovin Kim. He told me all the time, ‘oh you are too loud, too loud.’ But then there was a moment when he realized that actually I was not too loud. From then on it was smooth sailing. I learned so much from David, from the way he played, from the way he could make the cello sound with such unbelievable accuracy, simplicity and honesty, and, of course, he played louder than anyone else. In the ‘Archduke,’ but also in the slow movement of the Schubert E-flat Trio, I think nobody ever played like that, apart from Pablo Casals. There was a quality of his that was so moving, every time, in rehearsal.”

We’ll hear Uchida, Kim and Soyer in the “Archduke,” in a performance captured in 2006.

Then founding director Rudolf Serkin will join Philadelphia-based soprano Benita Valente and hornist Myron Bloom for Franz Schubert’s “Auf dem Strom” (“On the River”), a work composed in tribute to Beethoven. The text, by Ludwig Rellstab, was originally intended for the older master. The song was first performed on the only concert devoted exclusively to Schubert’s music during Schubert’s lifetime, which took place on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death, March 26, 1828. Schubert himself would die only eight months later. The Marlboro performance dates from 1960.

I hope you’ll join me for music of Beethoven and Schubert played by Marlboro artistic directors, this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

PHOTO: A lighter moment (not too loud) with Soovin Kim, Mitsuko Uchida and David Soyer

September 6, 2017

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