99 Hermeto Pascoal Stories - 9

Suite Pixitotinha

This story is about the creation and performance of a symphonic piece by Hermeto Pascoal in 1988. I was closely involved in the process from the very beginning, and I will share its story here.

Suite Pixitotinha: original cover page of 2nd movement

Cover page of 2nd movement, prepared by Jovino Santos Neto

Hermeto had already collaborated with the Danish Radio Big Band in 1986, and that was an extraordinary experience for all of us. In 1988, we were invited again to work together, but this time the Danish Radio commissioned Hermeto to compose a piece for their Studio Orchestra, conducted by jazz trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg. Hermeto was (as always) in a super creative and prolific place, and he wrote four different movements. The idea was for him and I to play short interludes between the movements.

The concert took place at the DR auditorium in Copenhagen in March 1989. The audio excerpts below were transcribed from a cassette tape I kept all these years. Danish Radio wanted some notes from the composer, and Hermeto instead asked me to translate the following introduction, to be read by an off-stage announcer:

Here’s the transcription:

My name is Hermeto Pascoal. I came to this world on the 22nd of June 1936. I consider myself to be a musician since that day.

I am a musician who learns from everyday life. I never had any teacher because I am a pupil of all human beings and also of the higher force. I also consider every human being as a musician regardless of whether he plays an instrument or not.

This because I draw inspiration not only from music but from everything. For me everything is music and all is sound. When I composed this piece I felt very close to all musicians and to all things.

That is why I ask you to applaud yourselves, conductor and musicians, as if I would be present before the first rehearsal. I also ask you to applaud yourselves together with the public before the concert. These people feel the music without prejudices in the country, in the streets or anywhere else.

I could talk about many different things such as aeroplanes, birds, automobiles, horses, cows, food, drink, but I will not explain anything about this piece because I think that each person feels according to his state of spirit and his background. A great hug for the men, many kisses for the women. This is it.

At the performance, Hermeto started with a free improvisation on solo piano, crossing all the barriers between romantic, lyrical, adventurous and simply joyful. At the very end he played a short excerpt from Tira a Polca e Taca o Parafuso, which he had composed some months earlier :

Next, the Orchestra’s string section played Eu Te Tudo, an expanded version of a piece Hermeto had composed for the Kronos Quartet (and that they never played):

That was followed by a bass flute solo by Hermeto, showcasing his incredible skills of whistling and singing along, creating dense textures and colors:

The next movement is Ilha das Galés (Gallows Island), which was inspired by a visit Hermeto made to Santa Catarina state, where there is an island with that name. The melody is split among English horn, flute and oboe while the strings play a harmonic background, shifting colors like ocean waves. It is followed by myself playing Ferragens, a piece for solo piano that replicates the sound of iron pieces being hit. This shows Hermeto’s most incredible capacity to create atonal soundscapes for the piano: