Symphony No. 4 (Villa-Lobos)

Recordings#

• From 10 to 13 June 1955 Villa-Lobos made a recording of this symphony at the Salle de la Mutualité in Paris with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française.
• 1996, Diemecke, Dorian (dist. Naxos)
• 1997, St. Clair, CPO
• 2012, Karabtchevsky, Naxos

Instrumentation#

The symphony is scored for a large orchestra and brass band. * The orchestra consists of 2 piccolos, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, percussion (timpani, cymbals, bass drum, drum, side drum, tam-tam, bells, sistrum, small frame drum, chocalho, sleigh bells, triangle, and xylophone), celesta, 2 harps, piano, and strings. * The wind band consists of E clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, euphonium, cornets, bugles, horn, 1 or more saxhorns, bass trombone, contrabass trombone in E, contrabass trombone in B, and bass drum. * There is also a concertino ensemble made up of E clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, euphonium, small frame drum, triangle, cymbals, and bass drum.

Analysis#

The work is in four movements: The Fourth Symphony employs the principle of cyclic form. The main theme of the first movement recurs in all of the following movements, with the aim of providing unity to the whole work. Moreover, themes from Villa-Lobos’s Third Symphony are also quoted here, which has sometimes incorrectly been assumed to imply that these two symphonies were originally a single work.

Further reading#

• Béhague, Gerard. 1994. Villa-Lobos: The Search for Brazil’s Musical Soul. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 1994. .
• Salles, Paulo de Tarso. 2009. Villa-Lobos: processos composicionais. Campinas, SP: Editora da Unicamp. .