http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3380&rws=%2Fheitor-villa-lobos%2Fmusic-videos.rssAround the time of Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly's search for folk idioms and songs in their native Hungary, Heitor Villa-Lobos was doing the same thing in his homeland, Brazil. Merging the music he found with his understanding of and love for antiquated and new Western art music, Villa-Lobos easily became the single most important Brazilian composer, if not the most significant South American composer. His music, notably the piece entitled <I>Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5</I>, has become well known even outside of classical circles. His works for guitar are exceedingly popular: no classical guitarist worth their salt doesn't attempt the emotionally mature, harmonically complex and melodically beautiful <I>Preludes</I>. A guitarist with sensitive hands and malleable technique can make these works sing with gorgeous purity while carefully building upon the rhythms and colors Villa-Lobos wrote into them. He was not averse to utilizing Modernist techniques: for <I>New York City Skyline</I>, he literally traced the skyline and jotted notes along the outline. The effect is startling and the piece is one of his most famous. - Will Lerner20th/21st Centuryen720Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:18:09 -0800 http://static.realone.com/rotw/images/logo_rhapsody_113x22.gif http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3380&rws=%2Fheitor-villa-lobos%2Fmusic-videos.rss Around the time of Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly's search for folk idioms and songs in their native Hungary, Heitor Villa-Lobos was doing the same thing in his homeland, Brazil. Merging the music he found with his understanding of and love for antiquated and new Western art music, Villa-Lobos easily became the single most important Brazilian composer, if not the most significant South American composer. His music, notably the piece entitled <I>Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5</I>, has become well known even outside of classical circles. His works for guitar are exceedingly popular: no classical guitarist worth their salt doesn't attempt the emotionally mature, harmonically complex and melodically beautiful <I>Preludes</I>. A guitarist with sensitive hands and malleable technique can make these works sing with gorgeous purity while carefully building upon the rhythms and colors Villa-Lobos wrote into them. He was not averse to utilizing Modernist techniques: for <I>New York City Skyline</I>, he literally traced the skyline and jotted notes along the outline. The effect is startling and the piece is one of his most famous. - Will Lerner