6th Part - Contemporary Guitar Music on Books... Marco Pereira

 

... Villa-Lobos was especially fascinated by the Amazon Forest (its legends and indigenous culture) and the guitar couldn’t be forgotten in this tribute to Brazil, which is his work.
Marco Pereira

Heitor Villa-Lobos, sua obra para violão

(Heitor Villa-Lobos, his work for guitar)
Publisher: Musimed, Brasilia, 1984
Author: Marco Pereira

Marco Pereira is a composer and guitarist, renowned and sophisticated in both fields. His book is more technical in terms of analysis, and one of the first works in order to meet the compositional processes of Villa-Lobos towards the guitar. The text is the result of his Master degree at the Sorbonne in 1979. Next to the Turibio Santos’ book, Pereira’s work is considered as one of the pioneers and most cited by researchers.

Pereira provides a number of preliminary information that someone should know to start a study in this area, aiming Brazilian characteristics, as Suite Popular Brasileira, the origins of musical genres such as the waltz, the original and the Brazilian, aspects from serenade and Choro, compiling various relevant authors of Brazilian musicology. He adds information about Choros 1 and its importance in the series of 14 Choros by Villa-Lobos. Also, about Chorinho, the last piece of this Suite, Pereira credits differentiations in order to other pieces, like the Harmony more constructed, parallel chords and chromatic movements between notes; these features gathered even before the 12 Studies (p.95).

Pereira has an important conclusion on the interpretation for Study: it should be guided by changes in Harmony and in the Cadences (p.30). From the Studies, the author points out the n.10 as one of the toughest from this cycle, in technical terms, by the demanded control to do four-notes slurs section, and he evokes the lack of established tonalities as a characteristic of many of these Studies.

The left hand presentation is current in the whole series, as pointed out by Pereira, which concludes on the geniality of the composer: "He can, through the left-hand shift with fixed presentation (added to the three open strings – notes that don’t move) harmonies of great effect" (p.55). He specifically highlights the Coda of this Study: "In the coda, Villa-Lobos, using the initial theme, creates very rich rhythmic variations between thumb, index, middle, ring fingers. Parallel fifths and octaves, moving in minor thirds, with the pedal of second and sixth strings, engender a magnificent tension, reaching its apex in six-triplets rasgueo on the starting chord transported to the higher octave" (p.57).

About Study 11, Pereira establishes the central part as one of the "most brilliant propositions of the composer at the level of creativity in instrumental technique" by the idea already presented in the fixed position of the left hand, whose "sound result is unusual" (p.57).

Analysing then the Five Preludes, Pereira alludes that the rich mixture of musical elements of Villa-Lobos, open to new influences, is what constitutes an authentic Brazilian music. In addition to this, the idiomatic guitar writing with physical conformation of the instrument contribute to this, it is a strong point worked by the composer throughout his production; Pereira points in Prelude 4, homage to Brazilian Indigenous, the thematic material is extracted of the series of natural harmonics obtained on the guitar, used by Villa-Lobos as the theme of the piece and then reworked in the melodies that are in the central part of the Prelude, in sentences with notes in harmonics.

However, the sound guitar possibilities also carry its limitations, such as low volume and sustain when confronted with orchestra, so Pereira exposes the idea that Villa-Lobos was not opposed to the use of amplification technology in his Concerto for guitar and small orchestra (p. 73).

In terms of conclusion, Pereira holds a number of features that summarize, anyway, what makes Villa-Lobos a prominent name in guitar world, "the imprint of the composer." Here, some considerations by Pereira about this (p.109):

- The Twelve Studies and Concert are the great collaboration for quality leap in guitar writing.

- Instead of innovations, Pereira believes that these are "findings" in correspondence to the nature of the instrument, and composers before Villa-Lobos, and even his contemporaries, so made use of the guitar to express a musical language, in general terms, it means common to other instruments. Villa-Lobos was certainly the first to use what was unique to the instrument, based on the fingerings to build his musical material, hands positions for some sound results.
- Use of technical elements already very established, however in a very personal manner, such as slurs, tremolos, arpeggios and scales, increased by his writing.

- The use of the fifth finger of the right hand to perform chords "plaqués" of five sounds.

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