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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Elsie Houston Sings Brazilian Songs
Oh my.
From Scratchy 78 to Scratchy 33 to little cassette recorder to Audacity and saved to mp3. And yet, her astonishing voice gets through. Not as much Cancao do Carreiro shrieking, and more exceedingly charming birdlike trills.
From the liner notes:
Track listing, from the record jacket.
Oh my.
From Scratchy 78 to Scratchy 33 to little cassette recorder to Audacity and saved to mp3. And yet, her astonishing voice gets through. Not as much Cancao do Carreiro shrieking, and more exceedingly charming birdlike trills.
From the liner notes:
Elsie Houston, Brazilian soprano born in Rio de Janeiro, was the foremost exponent of the vocal music of Brazil. She toured extensively both in Europe and America (her debut was in Paris in 1926), making known to ever-widening audiences the folk songs and the art songs of her native land. Her gift for characterization was unrivaled and she possesed a voice which she could bend to her will in the projection of an enormous range of color and emotion. It was a voice which has been described variously as seeming "to come from somewhere beyond the equator," as "an Amazon chant" and as "of exquisite quality..."
Track listing, from the record jacket.
- BAND 1 Foi n'uma calmosa (Night of Dreams, O Night of Fancy)(No. 5 Modinha Carioca)("Song of Rio") Collected and harmonized by Luciano Gallet.
- BAND 2 Bahia (Carateristica) Alvaro Moreya-Hekel Tavares
- Dansa de caboclo (The Frog Song) (Coco) Harmonized by Hekel Tavares
- BAND 3 Benedicto Pretinho (A Little Piccaninny) Folk Song--Harmonized by Hekel Tavares
- Bia-ta-ta (Coco) Folk Song--Harmonized by Hekel Tavares
- [This is in error--Bia-ta-ta comes first]
- BAND 4 Berimbau (Amazon Legend) Jayme Ovalle--Poem by Manuel Bandeira
- BAND 5 Tres Potos de Santo: 1.Chario 2. Aruanda 3. Estrella do Mar (Brazilian Magic Themes) Jayme Ovalle
- BAND 6 Tayeras (Song and Dance of the Mulatresses from the North)(State of Bahia) Harmonized by Luciano Gallet
- Bambalele (Song of the Northern Interior)(Pernambuco) Harmonized by Luciano Gallet
- BAND 7 Cancao do carreiro (Song of the Ox-cart Driver)(Seresta No. 8) Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Oh my.
Comments:
One of the favorite, haunting records of my childhood. I have this in its 33rpm version. I'd always thought she had thrown herself out of a New York window, but I learn from your website that she took sleeping pills. The voice itself is haunting enough, but the sad ending to her life also colors my appreciation.
I don't know of anyone else (save my father and my aunt) who know about Ms. Houston, so it's nice to read of a fellow enthusiast. I'm going to rip a CD from the LP for a Brazilian friend, who may be able to interpret some of the lyrics. I wonder what music from the album may be published and/or in print?
Hugh Gabrielson, aka
hwg666@gmail.com
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I don't know of anyone else (save my father and my aunt) who know about Ms. Houston, so it's nice to read of a fellow enthusiast. I'm going to rip a CD from the LP for a Brazilian friend, who may be able to interpret some of the lyrics. I wonder what music from the album may be published and/or in print?
Hugh Gabrielson, aka
hwg666@gmail.com
