A Love Affair

One day many years ago, I was listening to 99.5, the classical music station of MPR, while driving to work. On came one of the most inexplicably entrancing pieces of music I had ever heard. When I arrived at work the piece was still playing, so I sat in my car in the parking ramp, waiting - wanting it to go on forever because I felt such a kinship to it, but also wanting it to finish so I could find out who the composer was. Finally the announcer said the name of the piece was "blah blah blah" (something in another language, I believe Portuguese) and that it was written by "Me-Oh". A little time on AltaVista later (this was before Google), I discovered it was Saudades do Brasil, written in 1920 by Darius Milhaud. A little more searching revealed it was a recording by William Bolcom, a student of Milhaud's, and a renowned composer in his own right. It was originally released in 1975.

Saudades do Brasil is a collection of short pieces for the piano, and uses polytonality, which is the simultaneous use of more than one key. There are quite a few recordings of these pieces, and I own a few, but to my ears the gold standard is the one I heard that day. I couldn't find a youtube video of the Bolcom recording, so I made my own. This is Corcovado, the 7th of 12 pieces that comprise Saudades do Brasil.