LDV119

Its dense, quasi-orchestral writing (sometimes notated on three or even four staves) and its unsettled harmonies, moving in the direction of an eccentric but controlled polytonality, have sometimes discouraged performers and listeners alike. The telluric forces unleashed by Villa-Lobos in this great ode to nature also derive from Stravinsky. Wilhem Latchoumia takes on this masterpiece with tremendous gusto and does full justice to its status as an earthy monument, deeply embedded in the roots of humanity. We are very close here to Edgar Varèse’s Amériques , with which Villa- Lobos’s piece is contemporary.