On 25th May 1955, Heitor Villa-Lobos conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and soloist Felicja Blumental in a performance of his 5th Piano Concerto at the Musikverein in Vienna.
The other composition, the symphonic poem Amazonas presented at this concert shows his coming to terms with the Brazilian music that would dominate his style. This work drew from native Brazilian legends and the use of “primitive,” folk material.
The unusual instrumentation includes well-Brazilian percussion with “Reco-Reco”, “Ganzá”, “Cuíca”, coconut, deaf and tambourine.
Then, a serious problem arises, when the orchestra manager realized that they didn’t have a particular instrument for performing the symphony. And came desperate to Mark Mizne crying for help. The instrument they were looking for was a “Cuíca”, as Markus Mizne remembered that the only person in whole Vienna, that possessed it, was a musician interned in a mental hospital.
When proposing to pick-up the instrument, Markus Mizne meant to go by himself, stating to Villa-Lobos that the musician was depressed, when Villa-Lobos jokingly replying: “ If he’s that crazy, I’m also crazy”. Therefore, they decided to together to convince the musician to lend his instrument for the evening performance.
At the end, the concert was a tremendous success, not only due to the magic playing of the exotic instrument.
