Choro No.5, “Alma brasileira”

For Villa-Lobos choro - a form of popular music that originated from both European and South American sources in Rio de Janeiro in the nineteenth century - was “the essence of the Brazilian musical soul.” His own Choros are obviously far more sophisticated than the music of the chorões he heard in his youth in the streets of Rio but, whatever instrument or ensemble they are written for and however extravagant the scoring, the popular element is always there. Even in the 1920s, which he spent mainly in Paris alongside the trendy “Groupe des Six,” Villa-Lobos remained in touch with his Brazilian roots. Choro No.5, which was written in 1925 and is actually entitled “Brazilian soul,” is remarkable for its expressive immediacy and its street-wise technical boldness

The opening Moderato in E minor is a sensitive study in contradictory rhythms: the syncopated five-note figure introduced in the opening bars is repeated in the left hand while a melancholy melody is poised above it in quite different syncopations in the right hand. The tempo rises and the key changes to E major to accommodate a more cheerful popular tune and then, following a succession of heavily percussive chord clusters, there is a fiercely dissonant march worthy even of Charles Ives in its textural and rhythmic complexity. As the tempo relaxes again the opening Moderato returns to bring the piece to its suddenly dramatic conclusion.