The new album by violist Georgina Rossi and pianist Silvie Cheng is saturated with Brazil’s rich musical heritage. CHORINHO (Navona NV6537, released August 11, 2023) presents a slew of alluring yet under-recognized works for viola, including world-premiere recordings of works by João de Souza Lima, Lindembergue Cardoso, and Ernani Aguiar. We spoke with the violist about the recently released album, Brazilian music, and more.
The title of your album is Chorinho. What does it mean and why did you choose it?
The Choro (very roughly, lament) is a musical form that was developed organically in the streets of Rio in 19th century Brazil as musicians would gather to make music and improvise. They would draw on their own musical background and traditions but also were processing and stylizing multiple contemporary imported genres – waltz, tango, polka, ragtime. The choro’s character is usually melancholy, and improvisation is very key to its definition.
I chose the title Chorinho (little lament – after Souza Lima’s sole work for viola), because I wanted to clearly state “this is an album of viola music!”. We are so often the receivers of melancholia in music. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
You represent seven different Brazilian composers on this album. What similarities do you notice among their styles? What, if anything, in their music collectively demonstrates a “Brazilian sound”?
Brazilian modernists were very conscientious and determined in their efforts to develop a distinct Brazilian sound and style. They were intellectuals and saw their work as a vital patriotic service. Curiously (to us today) modernism and nationalism went hand in hand for the Brazilian Nationalist School, at the center of which was Osvaldo Lacerda’s composition teacher, M. Camargo Guarnieri, who in turn was mentored by the revered Mario de Andrade.
The nationalist school was very successful, and you can certainly hear that on this record – not a single one of the pieces strays far from that path. However, it is important to mention that the work of the Second Viennese School did have a big impact on the project of modernism in Brazil. In fact, the tension was such between the two ideologies of composition that a feud, manifested in published letters, was carried out in the 1950’s. Insults abounded and the two camps of composition clearly divided!
Villa-Lobos’s massive global success of course strengthened the nationalist school’s campaign.
Some listeners are familiar with Heitor Villa-Lobos, but most of the other names in this collection are unfamiliar to North American audiences. Which of these Brazilian composers are well known in their home country? Which do you feel deserve wider recognition?
Brazil has very strong cultural institutions and does excellent work of archiving and celebrating the work it produces, so most composers on the record have been recognized and celebrated in their home. I would mention that Brenno Blauth is a bit of an outsider. He was never quite in the scene, and worked full time as a doctor for his entire life. I’m proud to have recorded his magnificent and very challenging viola sonata! As did the fabulous Barbara Westphal before me.
The final selection on the album is a song by Chiquinha Gonzaga, arranged by you and Silvie Cheng. What is significant about her, and why did you decide to include this particular song, Lua branca?
Chiquinha Gonzaga was a courageous musician in hostile circumstances– she abandoned an arranged marriage that threatened to forbid her musical activity and was disowned entirely by her family. But she was fearless and hard working and insanely talented. Her music–and she wrote a lot of it– was wildly successful, and with her financial success she fought for the abolitionist cause and worked to found the first artists copyright society.
Your previous recording with Silvie Cheng featured the music of Chile, this one Brazil. What’s next?
I have my eye on Argentina– and I want to focus more on contemporary works. I love the 20th century, but I’m very curious about what’s being written today for the viola in Buenos Aires.