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Piano concerto #5

Appleby Catalogue W number: 
W521

Commissioned by Felicja Blumental.

  1. Allegro non troppo
  2. Poco adagio
  3. Allegretto scherzando
  4. Allegretto 

Called a work "of unabashed banality" by Simon Wright ("Villa-Lobos: Modernism in the Tropics," The Musical Times, Vol. 128, No. 1729 (Mar., 1987), p. 133.

Year Composed: 

1954

Category: 
Concertos
Instrumentation: 

Piano & orchestra

Scores: 

Villa-Lobos, Heitor. 1984. Concerto no 5 pour piano & orchestre. Paris: Editions Max Eschig.

The autograph scores (80 pp. & 50 pp.) are in the Museu Villa-Lobos.

Recordings: 

 

Performances: 

Premiere performance: May 8, 1955, with Blumental and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jean Martinon.

None of the piano concertos is very popular in live performance.  As of Sept. 2008, there are only single performances of #2 and #3 in the Villa-Lobos Concerts database. 

Update: but Concerto #5 will be performed in September 2008 in Brazil.