Alexandre Levy (1864-1892)

[Wheesht]

Levy was mentioned here in the New World Composers section in the Downloads Folder back in 2012. There are now some more recordings available on Youtube, for example the symphonic poem "Werther", played by the Orquestra Sinfônica Nacional da Universidade Federal Fluminense and in another performance by the Orquestra Sinfônica Nacional conducted by Ligia Amadio.

The third and fourth movements of his single symphony are available in a 2016 recording by the Orquestra Sinfônica de Piracicaba conducted by Jamil Maluf.

The website of the Academia Brasileiro de Música has a biography that reads as follows in a machine translation:

Composer, pianist, conductor and music critic, Alexandre Levy was born in São Paulo, capital, on November 10, 1864 and died prematurely in the same city on January 17, 1892. He was the son of French clarinetist Louis Levy, who had lived in São Paulo since 1860 and founded Casa Levy, one of the main music stores of the time. Louis Henrique Levy, his brother three years older, and his father were his initiators in music. His piano teacher seems to have been the French pianist living in São Paulo Gabriel Giraudon, before studying with the Russian pianist Luis Maurice. His debut as a pianist was at the age of eight. His talent was widely recognised, having even been compared to Mozart by musical critics of his time. The importance of Casa Levy and the popularity of his father gave him direct contact with all the important musicians of São Paulo, and with all those who would perform in that city. In 1882, Alexandre and Luís Levy played in Buenos Aires.

Since 1880, several of his works for piano began to be published in Europe. In 1883, he was made concert director of the Haydn Club, an important paulista concert society. In 1885, he performed as a conductor for the first time in a concert of the same Haydn Club. In 1887, he travelled to Europe, having studied in Paris with Émile Durand and Vincenzo Ferroni. At the end of the same year he returned to São Paulo, where he began work as a music critic in the press. Some of his compositions of this time already follow a clear nationalist tendency. This is the case of two works for piano, the Brazilian Tango and the Variations on a Brazilian popular theme, where he uses the melody of the famous song "Come here, Bitu", and the Brazilian Suite, where, in the last movement, entitled Samba, he uses elements of rural music from São Paulo. Other works by Levy, in turn, clearly follow the characteristics of Austro-Germanic romantic music, such as the symphonic poems Werther and Comala, the Sinfonia em mi menor, the Trio itself flat and several works for piano, such as the Romance sempalavras op.4, the Allegro Appassionato op.14 and the Schumannianas, for piano.

There is also a documentary about him on Youtube, but that is only available in Brazilian Portuguese with subtitles in the same language, here.

[Sharkkb8]

There is also a recording of a string quartet:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8820975--carlos-gomes-alexandre-levy-e-glauco-velasquez

[Wheesht]

Thanks – hadn't seen that. Three composers who had very short lives.

[Ilja]

The whole recording of the Symphony can be heard in this concert registration. They also play Henrique Oswald's Piano Concerto.

[Alan Howe]

The Symphony starts just before 47 minutes into the recording. I wonder whether a kind person with the requisite know-how might be able to capture the Symphony and upload it?

[Mark Thomas]

My intention for later on today .....

[Alan Howe]

Ooh, very kind indeed!

[Wheesht]

Yes, indeed! I'm listening as I type this – and have just been given a jolt by a commercial butting in immediately after the beginning of the Andante.

[Mark Thomas]

Sorry chaps, this proved to be one of the least satisfying mp3 transfers I've attempted. The noise in the hall is so intrusive at the beginning and end of movements that I found it impossible to make a satisfying recording which sounds "clean" enough when you remove the visual distraction of the video. It's a pretty good performance, but I can't say I enjoyed the recording. Anyway, poor though it is, it's now available in our Downloads board here.

[Ilja]

Thank you, Mark. I tried to do the same before your attempt, but the background noise is also too uneven to remove efficiently.

Still, this piece holds a special place in my heart because it was what got me going on my journey into the unsung. Years ago, a fellow student supplied me with a tape of Levy's symphony. As a piece of music it appealed to me - particularly the very catchy earworm in the finale. Also, the idea that such European-inspired music had been written so far out in the western cultural periphery was something that fascinated me.

However, the recording itself was pretty horrible: it was a performance by what was obviously a not particularly talented amateur orchestra (calling itself the "Orquestra Filarmonia") who unsuccesfully attempted to hide their shortcomings by playing extremely slowly. To make matters worse, the tape had been stretched, creating significant distortion. I converted it to MP3 and used my then very limited audio processing skills to remove the distortion (or at least make it more listenable) and speed up the thing to where it became somewhat closer to what I thought made musical sense. In the process, I significantly shortened it, from 33ish minutes to around 24. In subsequent years, I gave my version to some people, and lo and behold it eventually ended up on Youtube! Its length reveals that this is "my" version, and it had obviously never been my intention that it should be published.

Listening to this professional performance, I am very pleased to hear how the tempi the orchestra arrived at came very close to what I arrived at in my amateurish efforts so many years ago...

[C R Lim]

The Levy symphony was issued on an obscure Brazilian CD (Centro Cultura Musical de Campos RJ) as part of the "6th Femusica Festival" (1996), Festival Orchestra  conducted by Sergio Dias. A live recording somewhat under-rehearsed but good enough to get an overall view of the piece.

The coupling is not strictly a UC item (the song-cycle "Drumondiana" by Cesar Guerra-Peixe) but it is attractive and well sung by the baritone Inacio de Nonno.

Catalogue number NM104097.

[semloh]

Thanks to Wheesht for drawing attention to this, to Mark for the mp3, and Ilja for his personal account. Time I listened to the music!