Special Features
Incredible gift from the Brazilian Guitar Quartet
by Randy Morse
February 1, 2019 – The most amazing musical experience of my life was the night the Brazilian Guitar Quartet gave a personal performance in my living room. Here's the story – along with our feature on the group, broadcast Nov. 29, 2000, including an interview of the quartet, selections from Essência do Brasil, and commentary.
November 2000 – The Brazilian press has called the Brazilian Guitar Quartet—Quarteto Brasileiro de Violões—the “dream team” (in English) of the classical guitar—an allusion to the NBA superstars who played in the Olympics when professional basketball players were first allowed to compete. Such is the level of the members of the quartet—Tadeu do Amaral, brothers Edelton and Everton Gloeden, and Paul Galbraith. Everywhere they have toured, they have been met with sold-out crowds, ecstatic audiences, and rave reviews.
The quartet played to a packed house November 11 at a concert sponsored by Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music. Lincoln was the third stop on their eight-city USA tour, from New York to California. They began with J.S. Bach's Overture No. 3 in C (original D). This was followed by Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1.
Next came an intermission in which the quartet's CDs sold out long before the demand was met.
In the second half of the concert, the quartet performed Ronaldo Miranda's
“Featured group: Brazilian Guitar Quartet”
Broadcast November 29, 2000
This 51-minute special feature includes our interview of the quartet, selections from Essência do Brasil, and commentary. If you prefer to listen to just the interview, you'll find it here.
If you don't see the audio player above, please update your browser. The file might take 30 seconds or more to load, depending on the speed of your internet connection and CPU.
Variações Sérias sobre um Tema de Anacleto de Medeiros, Camargo Guarnieri's Dança Negra and Dança Brasileira, and Antônio Carlos Gomes' Sonata in D major. The encore was Il Niege by Henrique Oswald, selected because it was snowing that evening.
It was an incredible performance! At the conclusion, the audience jumped to its feet and roared its approval in a standing ovation.
I had talked with their tour agent in advance and arranged to meet the quartet the following day to tape an interview for my radio program. I asked a friend, classical guitarist and composer Rusty Banks, to conduct the interview while I handled the technical side of the recording. We held the interview in a local coffee shop. Rusty and I had decided to ask the quartet if we could take them to dinner following the interview. They accepted, and we decided to eat at an Indian restaurant across the street.
Dinner was delightful, with great food and great conversation about all kinds of Brazilian music and artists. There was lots of laughter. In the course of the conversation, I mentioned that my wife, who was at home with our children, loves classical guitar music,
so she was very sad that she had to miss the previous night's concert because of a prior commitment. While I was talking with Rusty, the quartet started talking among themselves. Then Paul turned to me and said, “We would like to come to your house and play for Beth.” I was completely knocked out by their offer of such a kind gift!
We knew we couldn't all fit into one car, so Rusty called his wife, Christy, who agreed to meet us at the quartet's hotel, bringing their young daughter with her. We went to the hotel to get the quartet's guitars, and Tadeu did some quick work on his fingernails. Then we piled into two cars and drove to my house. My wife was stunned. The children were asleep upstairs. The quartet set up in my living room in front of the fireplace. We sat opposite—four feet away—on the couch.
The quartet began with the Bach Overture No. 3, because my wife especially loves Bach. They followed that with Miranda's Variações Sérias and Oswald's Il Niege. Then they played the two Guarnieri pieces, Dança Negra and Dança Brasileira. They finished the evening with the Vivace (“Burrico de Pau”) from Gomes' Sonata in D major (a transcription by the quartet that is amazing!), and finally Francisco Mignone's Lundu.
The quartet played an hour-and-a-half personal concert for us! The evening ended with a round of good wishes and abraços. I couldn't believe what warm, generous, and wonderful people they are.
Website: www.brazilianguitarquartet.com
The quartet played to a packed house November 11 at a concert sponsored by Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music. Lincoln was the third stop on their eight-city USA tour, from New York to California. They began with J.S. Bach's Overture No. 3 in C (original D). This was followed by Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1.
Essência do Brasil
In the second half of the concert, the quartet performed Ronaldo Miranda's
From our audio archives
“Featured group: Brazilian Guitar Quartet”
Broadcast November 29, 2000
This 51-minute special feature includes our interview of the quartet, selections from Essência do Brasil, and commentary. If you prefer to listen to just the interview, you'll find it here.
If you don't see the audio player above, please update your browser. The file might take 30 seconds or more to load, depending on the speed of your internet connection and CPU.
It was an incredible performance! At the conclusion, the audience jumped to its feet and roared its approval in a standing ovation.
I had talked with their tour agent in advance and arranged to meet the quartet the following day to tape an interview for my radio program. I asked a friend, classical guitarist and composer Rusty Banks, to conduct the interview while I handled the technical side of the recording. We held the interview in a local coffee shop. Rusty and I had decided to ask the quartet if we could take them to dinner following the interview. They accepted, and we decided to eat at an Indian restaurant across the street.
Dinner was delightful, with great food and great conversation about all kinds of Brazilian music and artists. There was lots of laughter. In the course of the conversation, I mentioned that my wife, who was at home with our children, loves classical guitar music,
Brazilian Guitar Quartet, L to R: Everton Gloeden, Edelton Gloeden, Tadeu do Amaral, and Paul Galbraith
We knew we couldn't all fit into one car, so Rusty called his wife, Christy, who agreed to meet us at the quartet's hotel, bringing their young daughter with her. We went to the hotel to get the quartet's guitars, and Tadeu did some quick work on his fingernails. Then we piled into two cars and drove to my house. My wife was stunned. The children were asleep upstairs. The quartet set up in my living room in front of the fireplace. We sat opposite—four feet away—on the couch.
The quartet began with the Bach Overture No. 3, because my wife especially loves Bach. They followed that with Miranda's Variações Sérias and Oswald's Il Niege. Then they played the two Guarnieri pieces, Dança Negra and Dança Brasileira. They finished the evening with the Vivace (“Burrico de Pau”) from Gomes' Sonata in D major (a transcription by the quartet that is amazing!), and finally Francisco Mignone's Lundu.
The quartet played an hour-and-a-half personal concert for us! The evening ended with a round of good wishes and abraços. I couldn't believe what warm, generous, and wonderful people they are.
Website: www.brazilianguitarquartet.com