Heitor Villa-Lobos: Erosion (Erosão) The Origin of the Amazon River (1950), Dawn in a Tropical Forest (1953), Danses Africaines (1953), Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 (1945). The Louisville Orchestra, Robert Whitney, Jorge Mester (in Danses, Bachianas). First Edition Music FECD-0016 (2003) barcode 809157000167
Erosion recorded 13.I.52, Dawn recorded II.54, both Columbia Auditorium, Louisville
Danses recorded 7.V.69, Bachianas recorded 10.V.77, both Macauley Theatre, Louisville
Aged sonics make this Louisville reissue of limited interest
Originally posted on Amazon.com, 16 January 2008
The interest of this disc of Villa Lobos Louisville reissues derives first from its historical value: these were all premiere recordings (although that claim made by the booklet is obviously mistaken in the case of Bachianas Brasileiras #4, a relatively recent recording), and two pieces featured here, Erosion (1950) and Dawn in a Tropical Forest (1953), were also Louisville commissions. Erosion was in fact one the earliest recorded and published Louisville recordings: it came out in 1952 on Columbia ML 4615 (with 
Norman Dello Joio’s Triumph of Saint-Joan Symphony, now reissued on an all-Dello Joio companion CD from First Edition Music, FECD-0019 barcode 809157000198), the first of three such Columbia releases, before the establishment of the orchestra’s famous record label, First Edition Records, in 1954. And while the contents of the third of those Columbia LPs, 
ML 5039, with Henry Cowell’s 11th Symphony, Paul Creston’s Invocation and Dance and Jacques Ibert’s Louisville Concerto were soon transferred to the first LPs from First Edition Records (Creston on LOU 545-01, Cowell on LOU 545-02 and Ibert ou LOU 545-05), it was not the case with the other two (ML 4859 had Lukas Foss’ A Parable Of Death, Bohuslav Martinu’s Intermezzo (now on CD on FECD-0018 barcode 809157000181) and Darius Milhaud’s Kentuckiana (FECD-0031, link will open new tab to my review). Ibert’s Louisville Concerto was transferred to CD on First Edition Music’s “Français Moderne” collection, FECD-1906, and Cowell’s Symphony on a fine, all-Cowell collection, FECD-0003. For all the details on the CD reissues of the famed Louisville recordings, see my Louisville CD-discography.
As for “Dawn in a Tropical Forest”, it made the first such Louisville LP release, 545-01 , paired with the reissue of Paul Creston’s Invocation & Dance and Hasley Stevens’ Triskelion (none reissued to CD), the first in a batch of twelve subscription LPs published in 1954. Obviously, Villa-Lobos was an early favorite of Louisville and its music director Robert Whitney.
The two next pieces are later, and stereo recordings, from 1969 (Danses Africaines, originally released on LD 695 with John Addison’s Trumpet Concerto, now on First Edition Music’s collection FECD-1904 “British Modern”) and 1977 (Bachianas # 4, LS 762 with Priscilla McLean’s Variations and Mozaics on a Theme of Stravinsky, not reissued).
Another interest of these reissues is also that, other than Bachianas Brasileiras, these pieces are fairly rare on disc – more back then in the fifties than now, as Marco Polo has released in the early 1990s a modern recording of Erosion and Dawn, paired with two other typical Villa Lobos “Amazonian” compositions, Genesis and Amazonas (Marco Polo 8.223357 barcode 4891030233577 or 730099335720, link to my review on Amazon.com pending repost here), as well as another one by the same forces with the African Dances (Marco Polo 8.223552 barcode 4891030235526 or 730099355223, link to my review on Amazon) – the titles differ slightly but they are the same pieces, although Mester has apparently exercised cuts in the second and third dances). The “Danses africaines”, a 1953 orchestration of pieces originally composed for piano in 1914, are not very profound but entertaining, colorful and boisterous orchestral showpieces inspired by Brazilian rhythms and dances, as typical as anything written in that style by their composer, at times perhaps smacking a little too much of the kind of cross-over latino-classical illustrated by someone like Morton Gould. As for Bachianas Brasileiras 4 (again the 1941 orchestration of what was first conceived and completed in 1936 as a piano piece), there are too many recordings to count, starting with the composer’s own with the French National Orchestra (6 CDs from French EMI’s “Les Introuvables”, 7 67229-2 “Villa-Lobos par lui-même”, barcode 077776722924, my review on Amazon.com). 
This is Bach as he was understood and enjoyed in the thirties to sixties – grand, thick, heart-on-sleeve romantic, somewhat pedestrian and sentimental. The long opening Preludio: Introducao (10 minutes) is very much in the style of the Aria from the 3rd Suite played by the Berliners under Furtwängler. There is a nice motorism to the finale, though. Still, although the Bachianas Brasileiras are the set most eagerly associated with Villa Lobos, they are not my favorite in his output.
On the other hand his “Amazonian” inspiration has produced marvelous works. It is an inspiration that accompanied Villa Lobos throughout his compositional career. Two of his earliest works were the symphonic poem “Amazonas” and the ballet “Uirapuru”, from 1917. So it is significant that he should have returned to this inspiration in the early fifties (the ballet Genesis also dates from 1954), at the end of his life (he died in 1959). Erosion (or “The Origin of the Amazon River”) and “Dawn in a Tropical Forest” are compositions of great evocative power, full of lush and exotic colors, starting with hushed and shimmering strings over exotic Brazilian percussion and woodwind birdcalls evoking an awakening in the Amazonian forest, and rising to sweeping, epic lyricism and grandeur. “Dawn” is a rather short piece – 8 minutes under the stewardship of Whitney – but “Erosion” is more substantial, almost twice as long.
But these lush pieces, to be enjoyed at their full worth, require lush sonics, and this is where the rub lies: the aged, mono sonics of these Louisville recordings (even with what sounds like a deteriorated tape in “Dawn”) deprive them of much of their impact. Imagine experiencing the Amazonian forest on a small, black and white TV set! Add to that that Whitney’s tight-fisted approach, while delivering great snap, lacks sensuousness and grandeur. Duarte on Marco Polo has the sonics, the lush and sensuous atmosphere and the grandeur, but he sounds heavily plodding in the fast sections.
In “Dawn”, David Montgomery on Arte Nova Classics 74321 54465 2 barcode 743215446521 gives us the best of both worlds, I find: Whitney’s drive and bright sonics, with glaringly spotlighted solo instruments which, at times, give more than with Duarte an impression of beasts shouting in the tropical forest, rather than just music instruments playing atmospheric tunes.
A final note: the stereo sonics in Danses Africaines are rather crude (not inappropriately for the pieces) and detailed, but I hear, in the softer passages and with headphones, a background noise which sounds very much like surface noise from an LP, and which seems to point to transfer directly from an LP, apparently belying the label’s claim that the transfer was made from the original two-track stereo session master. This is something I have noticed on other First Edition Music Reissues.
So this is to be recommended only to the Louisville collector or the Villa Lobos completist, for sake of the historical significance of these recordings. For those interested only in good recordings of the pieces, the Marco Polo collection is a better option for the Amazonian ones, and for the Bachianas, anything goes, there is no dearth of choice. The problem remains with the African Dances, as despite Mester’s cuts and sonic deficiencies, his drive and dynamism suit the pieces better than Duarte’s grand and powerful but rather elephantine approach. But these are not indispensable pieces.