MDG Gold  905 1629-6

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Instrumental

Heitor Villa-Lobos: Suite populaire brésilienne, Douze Etudes, Cinq Preludes, Choro No. 1

Frank Bungarten (guitar)


Millennial Great
An exceptional guitarist pays homage to Latin American’s greatest composer when Frank Bungarten turns to the guitar oeuvre of Heitor Villa-Lobos. He documents three important creative phases in the career of this composer who began as a cellist, taught himself to play the guitar, and as Brazil’s musical heart and soul bequeathed more than a thousand works in various shapes and sizes to the music world.

Cosmopolitan Master
The young Villa-Lobos became acquainted with a whole wonderful mix of European musical styles and Afro-Brazilian elements in the Rio of the turn of the century. On the streets of this great city the popular choro, a mix of waltz, polka, and samba, could be heard. It was to this popular musical form that he dedicated his first virtuoso guitar compositions, presented to us by Frank Bungarten in the form of a suite.

Revolutionary Showman
Villa-Lobos initially did his picking and choosing when it came to the Western musical tradition. He ignored Viennese classicism and showed an interest only in Bach, Puccini, Debussy, and the Russian composers. His independence created a sensation when he visited Paris in 1923 – not to learn but to show how he did things. He wrote the Twelve Études, in every respect a powerful and revolutionary feat, during this most important phase of his composing.

World Champion
Villa-Lobos had long returned to Brazil when he wrote his Five Preludes in 1940, a typical late work returning stylistically to his earlier compositional periods. Reminiscences of the choros of his youth as well as an homage to the great Bach can be heard. It is only natural that Frank Bungarten has incorporated these guitars pieces numbering among the most-played such works of the twentieth century, into his extensive repertoire.