16 Jun Suite Retratos: Anacleto de Medeiros [Brazilian Music Barcelona]
Suite Retratos: Anacleto de Medeiros [Brazilian Music Barcelona]
Quim Ollé Freixas – Flauta Baixo
Santi Burgos – Bandolim e Arranjo
Ramiro Pinheiro – Violao
Waldemar Ramos – Vídeo
Pablo Andrés Giménez – Áudio
Gravado ao vivo em Barcelona
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Faz algum tempo fui convidado a gravar essa adaptação da terceira parte da Suíte Retratos de Radamés Gnattali – Retrato a Anacleto de Medeiros (Scottisch), a trio com Quim Ollé Freixas (flauta baixo) e Santi Burgos (bandolim), companheiros no projeto “Novo Rio Antigo”.
Encontrei um texto interessante (em inglês) sobre a Suíte, escrita pela Daniella Thompson, que vale a pena conferir
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“A prolific composer throughout his life, Radamés Gnattali (1906–1988) is internationally known primarily for his suite “Retratos,” a composition in four movements honoring four choro pioneers, each in a different genre:
1. Pixinguinha (choro)
2. Ernesto Nazareth (valsa)
3. Anacleto de Medeiros (schottisch)
4. Chiquinha Gonzaga (corta-jaca)
Gnattali did not pay tribute to the veteran composers in name only, but incorporated the style and flavor of their creations into his suite. The first movement, “Pixinguinha,” is an elaboration on the choro “Carinhoso”; the second, “Ernesto Nazareth,” draws on the waltz “Expansiva”; the third, “Anacleto de Medeiros,” builds on the schottisch “Tręs Estrelinhas”; while the fourth, “Chiquinha Gonzaga,” is inspired by the maxixe called “Corta-Jaca” or “Gaúcho.”
Radamés began working on “Retratos” in 1956, in an arrangement for bandolim, conjunto regional, and string orchestra. It was made for Jacob Pick Bittencourt, who recorded it in 1964, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Radamés. The Sambossa website offers both a letter about “Retratos” from Jacob to Radamés and mp3s of the second and fourth movements from that first recording.
In 1979—ten years after Jacob’s death—bandolinista Joel Nascimento invited several young musicians to form a group in order to play “Retratos.” They were Raphael and Luciana Rabello, Celsinho Silva, and Mauricio Carrilho (all four from Os Carioquinhas), plus Luiz Otávio Braga from Galo Preto. The new group was baptized Camerata Carioca by Hermínio Bello de Carvalho and recorded the suite three times, the most recent being a reunion performance in December 2002, included in the CD Ao Jacob, seus Bandolins, where each movement features a different soloist on the bandolim.
Reminiscing about Camerata Carioca in a 2000 interview, Mauricio Carrilho ticked off the various adaptations of the “Retratos” suite:
‘The original recording was made in 1964 by Jacob do Bandolim, string orchestra, two guitars, and cavaquinho; it was released on CBS. Fifteen years later, in 1979, Radamés transcribed the string orchestra part for a conjunto regional, whose lineup was two 6-string guitars, one 7-string guitar, one cavaquinho, and pandeiro. In this version, the guitars played not only the harmony but the phrases that had originally been played by the cellos; the cavaquinho replaced the violins, etc. The recording of this version was released in 1980 by WEA.
Radamés created a third version for Joel [Nascimento], Camerata Carioca, and string orchestra, recorded on video for TVE. Later he wrote a reduction for two guitars for the Assad brothers, recorded by them in Europe. This same version was recorded, with some modifications made by Raphael [Rabello], by Chiquinho do Acordeon, Rafa himself, and Dininho on bass. In 1995, I did a version for O Trio (clarinet, bandolim, and guitar), that hasn’t yet been recorded. As you can see, “Retratos” is the most adapted suite in the history of Brazilian music.’
(review by Daniella Thompson’s – http://daniellathompson.com/Texts/Reviews/Grigoryan.htm)