A Celebration of Twentieth-Century Song (Lear)
Evelyn Lear, soprano
Unknown orchestras, conducted by Kenneth Montgomery (Ravel) and Winfied Zillig (other pieces)
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras #5, and Canção do carreiro (Serestas, no. 7)
Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Ravel: Shéhérazade
Berg: Seven Early Songs
From Evelyn Lear's liner notes:
"In my student days at Julliard, I heard a recording of the great Bidu Sayao singing the 'Aria' from the Bachiana Brasileira no. 5 of Villa-Lobos. I had never heard the second song 'Dansa,' and was therefore determined someday to add it as well as the exquisite 'Aria' to my repertoire. Also in my student days I heard another idol of mine, Jennie Tourel, sing the 'Cancao do carreiro' by Villa-Lobos. It captivated me because of its fiery, seductive spirit, its abandonment and hypnotic steady beat. While singing in Europe I commissioned a hyoung composer to orchestrate the song for me (I possessed only the piano-vocal score), and I waited for the right moment to perform it. This occurred at a concert I gave with Winfied Zillig as conductor. Zillig himself was a noted composer and, at the time, one of the most highly respected musicians of the German musical scene."
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