"We passed two years in this marvelous country in contact with the great tropical forest," wrote Darius Milhaud in recalling the time he spent in Brazil in 1917 and 1918 as an attaché to the French embassy in Rio de janeiro. These Saudades do Brazil, or Recollections of Brazil, are "memory pieces" of the South American country written in 1920 and 1921 after the composer's return to Paris. Milhaud himself has called these pieces "evocations of Brazilian rhythms" but without folk music elements. The composer has further stated that he wishes the pieces to be considered "not as reproductions of actual dances, but as music suggested by the dance rhythms of Brazil — in the main by tango rhythms." We are to think of this music, says Milhaud, as "a sort of composite portrait of these dances, to some extent idealized." There are twelve dances in the suite, and each one of them is named for a district in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Written originally as a piano suite, the Saudades do Brazil has also been transcribed for orchestra by the composer...
(From the original Liner Notes)
Zadel Skolovsky
Plays
Darius Milhaud
(1892-1974)
Tracks
Saudades Do Brazil (Book 1), Op. 67
1 Sorocaba 1:42
2 Botafogo 2:00
3 Leme 2:28
4 Copacabana 2:45
5 Ipanema 1:44
6 Gavea 1:23
Saudades Do Brazil (Book 2), Op. 67
7 Corcovado 1:53
8 Tijuca 1:47
9 Sumare 1:55
10 Paineras 1:13
11 Laranjeiras 1:07
12 Paysandu 1:39
Piano Concerto n° 4, Op. 295
13 I. Animé 4:26
14 II. Très Lent 8:02
15 III. Joyeux 4:27
*
Zadel Skolovsky - p
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française/Darius Milhaud - dir.
Recorded ca 1952