Classical music: The United States advances in the World Cup of soccer and The Ear advances to another great moment in music by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.

By Jacob Stockinger

After its one-point loss to Germany, the U.S. soccer team will advance to the knockout round of the  FIFA World Cup, which is being held in Brazil until July 13.

The next game for the U.S. is against Belgium on Tuesday.

Loyal fans of The Ear may recall that a week or so ago he decided the global soccer event being held in Brazil was a good opportunity to explore the music of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (below), whose music is beautiful and much too under-programmed and under-played here and elsewhere.

Here is a link to the original post that also featured the gorgeous Cantilena movement for soprano from the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 that has been recorded by folk singer Joan Baez as well as opera divas Kiri Te Kanawa, Barbara Hendricks, Victoria de los Angeles and Kathleen Battle.

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/classical-music-the-fifa-world-cup-of-soccer-is-a-perfect-time-to-become-acquainted-with-the-astonishing-music-of-brazilian-composer-heitor-villa-lobos/

Here is another great moment in Villa-Lobos that I heard at the Cello Choir concert by the National Summer Cello Institute that was held this month at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.

This moment comes from the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 in a YouTube video below. It is the third movement, the finale, that happens in fugal form and again shows how Heitor Villa-Lobos tried to adapt the compositional techniques of Johann Sebastian Bach to the folk music and native dance rhythms of Brazil. That was an ambitious project, to be sure, and one in which The Ear thinks the composer was surprisingly successful.

Enjoy as you prepare to root for Team U.S.A.

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Posted in Classical music
Tags: Arts, Bach, Bachianas Brasileiras, Barbara Hendricks, Baroque, Brazil, Brazilian music, Cello, cello choir, Chamber music, Classical music, counterpoint, dance, diva, FIFA, folk, Folk music, football, fugal, fugue, harmony, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Jacob Stockinger, Joan Baez, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kathleen Battle, Kiri Te Kanawa, Music, National Summer Cello Institute, opera, rhythm, singer, soccer, soprano, Sport, Sports, tune, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Victoria de los Angeles, Villa-Lobos, YouTube