I didn't like Nazareth in the past, but now I have made piece with him.

Here is some of his pieces I like. I also enjoy "Apanhei-te cavaquinho" a lot, which really makes the piano sound as a cavaquinho (an instrument that I myself had played when I was 12).

Chris, I know you asked me to fill in the COMPOSER mp3 tag, but it DOESN'T EXIST in Rhythmbox on Linux. (I really think this tag is not standard...)
Any way, if someone know a program on Linux that fills this tag, I'll know how to do it in the future. Both Audacity and Rhythmbox do not fill it...

I've also made a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6nJSTP35Mc


Nazareth - Odeon (Tango Brasileiro)

Hi Luis,
I can tell it's summertime there! I won't be wearing clothes like that for another 4 months! And you're using a tablet for your music! Wow!! I'm seeing more and more of that lately. Was it hard to get used to?

Anyway, I don't know what the tempo marking is on this piece, but the opening seems a little slow to me; also when it repeats near the end. But then the middle parts sound okay. Maybe there are different tempo markings on the sections?

One thing though - your tags are fine, but your kbps is not. We need under 220 kbps.

Sure!


Well, the score is somewhat smaller in the tablet than on a printed page. It was the first piece that I could study entirely through the tablet. Hopefully Nazareth's manuscript (it seems to be a manuscript score) is very clear.


I'm glad you pointed that.
There's no tempo indication. It's only written "gingando". The tempo fluctuation among those sections are very subtle in my opinion. The greater difference is in character.
But yes, it's supposed to be played slowly, according to historical information.
In the video below, the great composer Francisco Mignone tells about Nazareth's style of playing, when he met him personally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwwzKHfOC0

Mignone says Nazareth played everything slowly, with a very precise rhythm and a cantabile voicing.
When he met Nazareth, he told Nazareth he plays some pieces of him. Then he started playing Brejeiro very enthusiastically, very fast.
Nazareth said: "Oh, no, this piece is not mine. Mine is much slower."
Then Nazareth played how it was supposed to be. And he said that most people play his music extremely fast. He says "Apanhei-te cavaquinho is a disaster! It must be played slowly, so that the arpeggios are clear, and the piano really sounds as a cavaco."

It's interesting, because I always thought that "Apanhei-te cavaquinho" is one of the few Nazareth pieces that should be played fast (!).

In this other video, one of the guitar players says Nazareth wanted his music to be listened to, not to be danced. They start playing this same choro, Odeon, in the tempo Nazareth used to play on piano, but immediately afterwards they rush and play like it's commonly played. The tempo they play in the beginning is very similar to the tempo I chose.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVqfN92CShs

You know, we are classical pianists, and we learn to play as faithful to the composer's intentions as possible, so I get really upset when an uninformed practice becomes the standard (like in Bach, for example ). Since Nazareth music was not designed to sound fast, I find no reason to play like that. It's more important to play "gingando".


Sorry, I just uploaded a version in 192 kbps.

This is a lovely piece, nicely played. I watched the video and I noticed that you play it reading the score. While you seem very comfortable with the piece, very familiar with it, I can't help thinking that you might have played more openly if you didn't have to stare at the score. May be just my impression though.

Sure!
It's always like this: the more you play, the more comfortable you get with the piece.
I've even seen pianists playing live months after the release of their recordings, and these "months" made them play much better than on CD.

But if I had memorized the piece, I couldn't show off my tablet!

Ok, thanks for converting the file. All your tags were missing because of it, but I filled them all back in. The recording is on the site now.

And it's very good that you explained that about the tempo in Nazareth's music. It's a great service to our listeners! Sometimes I wish they could read our comments here on the forum. Actually, they can, but I don't know how many listeners come here to the forum.

I've never seen that word, 'gingando' before. It's fun to say!

SHAME ON YOU, Audacity!
Audacity asked me: do you want to keep the tags?
I said: YES!




I don't know the exact meaning even in Portuguese! We usually say this word without knowing the exact meaning...
I think "gingar" (verb) has to do with the flexible/smooth shake of the hips while dancing samba, not those fast sambas, but the slow ones (I wouldn't say "gingado" for the fast samba, like in Samba Schools Parades, on Carnival). This "flexible shake" is what I call "ginga", so "gingando" (gerund) means to play with "flexible shakes" maybe.

Nice playing Luis. Is there a "piu mosso" indicated for the "B" section? I only ask because you played it slightly faster than the "A" material. Why do I recognize this piece, because I have never played/owned it, but can't place where I've heard it. Was it used in a movie?

hi!

no, there's no tempo indication in the whole piece, but there are modification of the character in the B section. it's written (in Portuguese): brilliantly

well... it's Nazareth most famous piece here in Brazil. we are born listening to it in several TV shows (soap operas, series, etc.). it could sure be part of the soundtrack of a movie, though I cant remember.

Hello Luis,
Thank you for this very nice recording. We have few opportunities to listen to this composer in Europe. I discovered him years ago during a trip in Brasil, and indeed he deserves better recognition. Regards,

Very nice indeed. Elegant, sparkly, and with that kind of lazy swing one associates with this music. It would be quite hard not to like Nazareth - how did you manage for so long ?
Now all you need is foot page-turning switch for your tablet.

Thank you, François!


"lazy swing" is a good definition for "ginga", I think. this is what I tried to explain when I said "flexible shakes". hehe


Nazareth's music does not sound classical. it sounds too popular to me, and despite that he wrote lots of choros with too many similar passages, which end up being too cliche. that's why.
he reminds me of Piazolla: nice tangos, but when you listen to one of them, you already listened to all! hehe

but now I could appreciate some really original pieces of him, like Apanhei-te cavaquinho, which makes the piano sound as a real cavaco. I intend to study and record it also.


Yes! My piano teacher went to Miami, and he's bringing me one of them!

First, nice recording!
Second, like everyone else, I watched the video, and was distracted by the tablet, and wondering how many pages it was showing at once - I saw you "turn the page" only once in a four-minute piece, and cannot believe that was sufficient, unless there are a lot of repeats? (Or unless the type is too small for someone my age to read??)
There really is a foot switch for advancing the page?? Wow - this could revolutionize things for us at Piano Society.

I wonder if, in the future, music stands for the piano might be built that are actually LCD's, and you could either prop up hard copy against them or read an electronic copy. Something in the physical mechanism would have to be standardized, though, and it's hard to imagine the piano manufacturers standardizing anything new.

Again, thanks for making our Sunday more interesting, Luis.

thanks, Stu!

this piece has only 2 pages, with PLENTY OF REPEATS!
so I go to page 2 at 2'12, then I try to get back to page 1 at 3'01, but my touch was not clear enough for the APV PDF Viewer to recognise. hopefully, I knew that passage by heart, so I try again at 3'09, then it works!

I have bought this page turn (works through bluetooth):
http://www.amazon.com/PageFlip-Cicada-B ... age+turner

and in case you are wondering... I bought a low cost tablet, made by a South Korean brand called "Genesis". I really can't pay R$ 2000 for a tablet, because I know it doesn't value that much. Genesis tablets cost less than one quarter of the price of an iPad or a Samsung Tab, and they even run heavy games like some of the Gameloft.

That pedal looks neat! Luis, what does R$2000 convert to in US dollars?

@Stu - I've seen a couple people playing piano using a tablet. And I read somewhere that a whole orchestra uses on one each players' music stand.

That's a neat idea about pianos being built with a LCD screen built in to the music stand. But you know....what I really wish was that tablets were larger and then you could see the music better. Maybe even a double tablet that's extra large.