Friday, September 02, 2011

If you like harmonica...

You really should acquire Hector Villa-Lobos' exquisite Harmonica Concerto. I've been wanting to post it here for years, but only just found a nice rendition I'd care to display. This is but one movement of the entire concerto, but you get a definite taste of the elegance and refinement of the piece. This is, in my opinion, one of the finest 20th century classical compositions.



I first heard this music driving across desert in Arizona. I was in a rental car, going from Blythe, California, driving by myself. My sister and I had gone out to see our Grandma in hospital. Sister rode from Blythe to Phoenix with her in the ambulance on her final earthly journey. Destination was Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix. This was stirring and beautifully contemplative accompaniment as I drove, thinking about her and her life and how very much she means to me.

Life is always like a song. Just sometimes it plucks the more somber tones of the heart strings, but therein lies much sweetness, too. I hope you'll like this and check out the full work-- it certainly merits adding to the collection of anyone with a fondness for harmonica. Sometimes the brutal contrasts make the good parts all the sweeter. Bittersweet.

Here this movement is beautifully performed by José Staneck with orquestra SInfonica Juvenil de Caracas



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