about
“Gingando” (jeen-gun-doe) suggests swinging one’s body. Imagine the loose-limbed grace of dancers at a neighborhood cafe.
Perhaps you too will find yourself moving gently, “gingando,” as you listen to this music played by a daughter of Ipanema.
Since the mid-nineteen century, Brazilian composers have drawn from the rich mixture of African rhythms, European salon music, Native folk melodies, Chôros, Bossa Nova and so many other varied traditions. They have masterfully transformed all of these ingredients into musical jewels, creating what is the exquisite and uniquely beautiful Brazilian music.
In 1808, Don João VI, King of Portugal, just six days after his arrival in Brazil, ordered the opening of the ports of Brazil and pianos were then imported from England. By 1856, Rio de Janeiro was considered the “City of Pianos” leading to a great number of composers writing specifically for the piano.
It is my hope that by recording this collection of short piano pieces, I can introduce the listener to musical samples from a variety of composers from different regions of Brazil, and share the musical wealth of my birth place. I was privileged to know and play for several of these wonderful Brazilian composers, and two of them were among my first music teachers: my mother Isabel Yára Dutra, and later Heitor Alimonda.
While planning this album, I shared my selections with my mother. She was delightfully surprised when she suddenlly heard one of her own compositions playing on the recording. Growing up, as I learned Brazilian music from her, I would often hear her exclaming: “Gingando!” She loved Brazilian music and especially its “delicious rhythms”, as she used to call them. After she passed away in 1919, I decided to include more of her compositions on this album, and in particular, the suite called “Serenata Singela” that she wrote and dedicated to my son Pedro when he was a newborn in 2020. Here, in turn, I dedicate this recording to my mother, Isabel Yára Dutra: pianist, composer, music educator and my first piano teacher.
credits
released September 24, 2021
C r e d i t s
Producer: Geísa Dutra
Sound Engineer: Jim Wilke
Recorded: September 2020 on a Bösendorfer 275 Concert Grand at Sociedade de Musica
Classica Latina, Seattle, Washington, USA
Master Piano Technician: Frank Chemotti
Photo: Rosanne Olson
(full body) / Jenny Jimenez (portrait)
Cover Design: MoMa Machado, @moma_designer
Premiatadesign.com
Editorial Consultant (liner notes): Teresa Johnson Lawson