’ cs J ¥ . | ‘ D 7 niente ISSENS = ymphony OrchestraVILLA-LOBOS: 1] The Little Train of the Caipira fro: GINASTERA: “oe m Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2 2] The Land Workers Wheat Dance [3 The Cattlemen [4 Final Dance, “Malambo” [8] Rondo of the Maidens; Dance of the Warriors GINASTERA: Panambi (Ballet Suites) [5] Moonlight on the Parana [6] Invocation of the Powerful Spirits [7] Lament of the Maidens recent years, hi-fi fans have delighted in the real- ic recordings of big steam locomotives and ther railroad sounds. For some, it is more thrilling to have a fast freight roaring through the liv- ing room than to hear the music of Beethoven or Tchaikovsky. Here, though, is a recording tailor-made for both the audiophile and the music lover. With Everest’s startlingly lifelike sound, coupled with the vivid imagination of Villa-Lobos, you can hear a musi- cal train come to life on your phonograph. “In music circles the name of Heitor Villa-Lobos is almost synonymous with Brazil,” wrote Louis Biancolli in the program book of the New York Philharmonic. “Indo-Brazilian lore and the country's colorful history find concrete expression in his art through a rhythmic and melodie medium of marked national character. What Jean Sibelius is to Finland, Carlos Chavez to Mexico, Georges Enesco to Roumania, Heitor Villa-Lobos is to his native Brazil, and perhaps more.” Villa-Lobos has written nine suites for varying combinations of instruments, to which he has given the generic title Bachianas Brasileiras. Concerning this unusual but immensely intriguing music, the com- poser has written: “This is a special kind of musical composition based on an intimate knowledge of the great works of J.S. Bach, and the harmonic, contra- puntal and melodic atmosphere of the folklore of the northeastem region of Brazil. The composer considers Bach a universal and rich folkloristic source, deeply rooted in the folk-music of every country in the world. ‘Thus Bach is a mediator among all races.” Sir Eugene Goossens, conductor of the present recording of The Little Train of the Caipira, has this to say about the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2, from which it is drawn: “Undoubtedly both the form and the spirit of this work are inspired by the great German master, and its four movements — Preludio, Aria, Danza, and Toccata — are conscientious imita- tions of the Bachian forms. But there the resemblance pretty much ends, for the Villa-Lobos music is based not on the melodic and rhythmic formulae of Bach as we know them, but on primitive Brazilian melodies. Harmonically and instrumentally the work is quiteuninhibited, and the list of percussion instruments is patently formidable. Incidentally, four of these instru- ments are authentically Brazilian, and they add consid- erable descriptive color to the puffings and gaspings of the Caipira express (?) in the last movement.” ‘The Little Train of the Caipira was inspired by a ride that Villa-Lobos took in 1931 on just such a train that was transporting berry-pickers and farm laborers between villages in the Brazilian province of Sao Paolo. (“Caipira” means “yokel” or “rustic,” and is derived from curupira,” a word from the language of the Tupi Indians in Brazil.) As the train chugged, bumped, squeaked and wheezed along, its sounds and rhythms suggested some musical ideas to the composer, a man who has written some of his best works in the midst of the most distracting environment. Within an hour he had completed the toccata, which he scored originally for ‘cello and piano; and that very night he and his wife tried it over. (It might be noted parenthetically, that it was the rhythmic noises of a train between New York and Boston that gave George Gershwin the basic inspi- ration for his Rhapsody in Blue.) In 1938, at the sugges- tion of Villa-Lobos’ close friend, the Brazilian conductor Burle Marx, the composer arranged the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2 for chamber orchestra. It is in this form that it has gained its widest popularity. The orchestra called for in The Little Train of the Caipira comprises a flute (interchangeable piccolo), oboe, clarinet, tenor saxophone (interchangeable with baritone saxophone), two homs, trombone, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, reco-reco (a notched wooden cylinder), chucalho (a rattle with gourd seeds), ganza (a metal tube filled with gravel), ‘matraca (a ratchet), celesta, piano and strings. Of the toccata, Goossens has written that it “is suffi- ciently vivid to enable me to dispense with much verbal description. The little train pufis and chugs along, and save for a solitary emergency stop (with great squealing of brakes) towards the middle of the journey, proceeds to its distant destination which it reaches safely in a process of gradual deceleration and much exhaust steam. A mighty and startling chord marks the end.” Ginastera: Estancia — Ballet Suite Alberto Ginastera, one of Argentina's most success- ful teachers and composers, was born in Buenos Aires in 1916 and studied there at the National Conservatory of Music, where he is now professor of composition. He is also director of the Conservatory of Music and Scenic Arts of the Province of Buenos Aires at La Plata. He has written music in many forms, some of it commissioned by North Americans, whom he met while working in the United States on a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1946. Estancia is a one-act ballet in five scenes. It was commissioned in 1941 by Lincoln Kirstein for his American Ballet Caravan, then touring South America, and was to have had choreography by George Balanchine. But the troupe disbanded in 1942, and Estancia was not presented in ballet form until August 19, 1952, when it was mounted at the Teatro Colén in Buenos Aires, with choreography by Michel Borovski and with Juan Emilio Martini conducting. Meanwhile, howev- cer, Ginastera extracted a four movement suite from the ballet, which was premiered by the Teatro Colén Orchestra, under Ferruccio Calusio, on May 12, 1943. Estancia is the Argentine word for “ranch.” In his music for this, his second ballet, Ginastera endeavored to reflect all aspects of Argentine ranch life. Briefly, the story of the ballet concerns a city boy who has difficulty winning a ranch girl. She considershim a weakling, unable to compete with the athletic gauchos (cowboys) on the ranch. Ultimately, the city boy wins his suit by demonstrating most effectively that he can beat the gauchos at their own game. ‘The movements of the ballet suite, drawn from four of the five scenes, are: 1. The Land Workers; 2. Wheat Dance; 3. The Cattlemen; 4. Final Dance, “Malambo.” The malambo is a lively, exciting and often very long dance tournament between two gauchos. As might be ‘expected, this is the most animated section of the suite. Notes by PAUL AFFELDER Ginastera: Panambi — Ballet Suite Panambi brought Ginastera’s name to the attention of a world-wide audience when the late Erich Kleiber conducted its American premiere with the NBC ‘Symphony Orchestra on February 24, 1948. Ginastera was just 20 when he composed the ballet, Panambi, the story of which is based on a South American legend. Juan José Castro conducted the world premiere of the five movement orchestral suite recorded here on November 27, 1987 in Buenos Aires. ‘The entire ballet was presented at the Teatro Colén on July 12, 1940, ‘The five movements of the Panambi ballet suite vary in style from modern impressionism to sophisticat- ed primitivism — the titles being: 1. Moonlight on the Parana; 2. Invocation of the Powerful Spirits; 3. Lament of the Maidens; 4. Rondo of the Maidens; 5. Dance of the Warriors. The primitivistic element is ‘most spectacularly evident in the second movement which is scored for percussion and brass only, and in the Dance of the Warriors which works up to a tremen- dous final climax. Notes by DAVID HALLClassic Records Direct from the 35mm Magnetic Film Series The sound that you wil experience on both the DVD and CD discs in this package is the result ofthe exceptional sound that Everest was able to record onto 35mm fm in the late 50's and early 60's coupled with a new approach to the playback process. Specifically, Classic Records, retained Len Horowitz from History of Recorded Sound in Hollywood, to meticulously restore a vintage Westrex 1551 tape machine, and build special playback electronics that are vastly superior to any others used on these machines to playback the orginal 3mm tapes. The specially modified 1551, fitted with brand new play back heads matched to the revolutionary playback electronics was stationed at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood. With Len Horowitz running the playback machine and Bernie Grundman, mastering the three track 35mm tapes, Classic Records has been able to capture the legendary sound and performances at 24 bits of resolution and at 192 kHz sampling rate for use in both the two and three channel presentations for the DVD Audio ‘and DVD Video formats using a two sided DVD-10 disc. A separate 16 bit / 44.1 kHz capture was done simultaneously forthe CD format to avoid non-integer down sampling and hence provide for maximum quality forthe CO. 35mm magnetic fim had major advantages over the 1/4" tape, which was substantially narrower, and commonly used for recording in the 50's and 60's. The film tape width accommodated three channels, each of which was as wide as the standard 1/4" record ing tape, yielding stereo recordings in which the usual “background noise” was demon: strably lower than normal, The 35mm base material, on which the magnetic oxide was coated, was five times thicker than that of conventional tape, permitting the recording of extremely high sound intensities without the danger of layer to layer sound “print through”. Like cinematic film, 35mm tape has sprocket holes along the edges, affording ‘an unprecedented smoothness of motion - extremely low wow and flutter. The Westrex Corporation buit special equipment to Everes’s specifications in order to accomplish these advantages. This equipment included the use of special recording heads ‘and amplifiers which afforded complete wide band frequency response in recording. In order to extract ever nuance in the digital domain possible, Kevin Halverson, developed a proprietary Analog to Digital convertor capable of operating at 24 bts of resolution and a ‘sampling rate of 182 kHz which is used to cgitally convert the analog audio stream directly from the 36mm original master tapes. No noise reduction, imiting or compression has been used in the transfer process. Judicious amounts of equalization are used, only when and where necessary, to afford the listener the most enjoyable playback experience possible. ‘We do hope you enjoy the music, performances and the sound that this series is intended to convey. Classic Records - Spring 2006 Standard 1/4" Recording Tape 2" Tape used for Conventional stereo recording EVEREST is recorded on tape 35mm wide,Two Discs: DVD AUDIO/VIDEO AND CD AuDIO This package contains two discs, one } is a two sided DVD-10 containing two channel 24 bit / 192 kHz data and three channel 24 bit / 96 kHz data on one side, playable on DVD audio players, and on the other side two channel 24 bit 96 kHz data and three channel Dolby AC-3, playable on DVD video players. The second disc included is a standard two channel CD containing 16 bit/44.1 kHz data playable on all CD and DVD players. Transferred directly from the original 35 MM three track film by Bernie Grundman from Bernie Grundman Mastering and Len Horowitz from History of Recorded Sound at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollyoood. Playback instructions: To play DVD Audio (two channel 24 bit /192 kHz) - insert DVD with center ring up labeled “DVD Audio - this side up” and press play on remote control or player. To play DVD Audio (three channel 24 bit/96 kHz) — insert DVD with center ring up labeled “DVD Audio — this side up” and choose Group 2 from the remote control and then press play. Alternatively, a menu, on the video screen or TV allows the user to choose 2 or 3 channel play. In the case that the player is not multi-channel capable, the three channel data will be mixed to two channels (based upon the players configuration) by the player when Group 2 or the three channel menu option is chosen and played. To play DVD Video (two channel 24 bit / 96 kHz) - insert DVD with center ring up labeled “DVD Video - this side up” and press play on remote control or player. To play DVD Video (three channel Dolby AC-3) - insert DVD with center ring up labeled “DVD Video — this side up” and choose Title Set 2 from the remote control and then press play. Alternatively, a menu, on the video screen or TV allows the user to choose 2 or 3 channel : Play.