The contrapuntal nature of many passages in the
Chôros series is clearly demonstrated in
Chôros No 2, a duo for flute and clarinet written in 1924. This is one of only two compositions dating from that busy year of concert-giving and travel, the other being
Chôros No 7, a larger chamber work which also employed flute and clarinet as leading voices. The spikily humorous dissonances, imitations, and syncopations of
Chôros No 2 are all direct descendents of the improvisatory music of Rio’s street musicians in which the two instruments predominated. The work may also be seen as a genuine two-part invention, again prefiguring the conception of the later series of
Bachianas Brasileiras. Villa-Lobos even made his own transcription of the work for piano.
from notes by Simon Wright © 1989
