Villa-Lobos / Baum - Schmustucke [CD]

"Schmückstücke" represents a colorful combination of multi-vocal polyphony, Spanish neoclassicism and Brazilian folklore. The name of the album - "Schmückstücke", which means "Gems," represents the idea of reflecting the personal intentions of the owner, just like the compositions reflect the personal intentions to their creators. The first composer on this album is Heitor Villa-Lobos, a violoncellist of Brazilian origin. His Five Preludes written in 1940 draw chiefly on the folk music of Brazil. The second composer, Joaquín Rodrigo, a Spanish piano virtuoso, drew his inspiration from Falla's ballet "El amor brujo". The work contains two expressive sections entitled Invocation and Dance. Last is Johann Sebastian Bach with Sonata in G minor (BWV 1001). This piece was written for solo violin, so The Fugue is a technical challenge, especially since the G minor key is not suited to the guitar. The guitarist Eileen Baum was born in Berlin. She studied in the class of Prof. Raineer Feldman for five years at the Berlin University of the Arts. In the guitar duo category she won the first prize at the "Jugend musiziert".