DCD 006 - Music of Tribute, Part 1

This podcast is the first installment of a two-part series. Labor Records has released a series of recordings entitled “Music of Tribute,” based on a fascinating premise. Each disc mixes music by a particular composer with music written by others in homage, dedicated to, or just influenced by that composer. Four discs have been released so far — Heitor Villa-Lobos, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré and Dominico Scarlatti.

The first volume is centered around Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. For the centennial of the composer’s birth, the musicologist and pianist José Eduardo Martins asked several composers to write works in Villa-Lobos’ honor. The Music of Tribute release is based on the resulting collection, which includes works by several Brazilian composers, as well as others from the US, Portugal, Spain and Austria.

Claude Debussy is the subject of the second volume. After Debussy’s death in 1918, the French journal Revue musicale invited several composers who were either French or active in the French musical scene to write short tribute pieces. Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy was published in 1920. This CD is a collection of works from that publication, as well as music by Debussy.

- Ralph Graves


This program, we play the following:

Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 5, Alma Brasileria - José Eduardo Martins, piano
(Labor)

Guarnieri: Improviso No. 2 (Homenagem a Villa-Lobos) - José Eduardo Martins, piano
(Labor)

Peixinho: Villabarosa (Homenagem a Villa-Lobos) - José Eduardo Martins, piano
(Labor)

Ravel: Le Duo pour Violin et Violoncello - Evgenia-Maria Popva, violin; Anatoli Kristev, cello
(Labor)

Debussy: Des pas sur la neige - Pavlina Dokovska, piano,
(Labor)