Saudades do Brasil, Op. 67

Twelve dances for solo piano, Op. 67, composed 1920–1921, each named after a neighbourhood or beauty spot in Rio de Janeiro. Milhaud had served as secretary to the poet Paul Claudel at the French Legation in Rio from 1917 to 1918, and the Brazilian popular music he encountered — the choro, the maxixe, the samba — left a permanent mark on his compositional language. The twelve pieces are all in duple time with syncopated rhythms, but their most distinctive feature is Milhaud's pervasive polytonality: the right and left hands typically play in different keys simultaneously, producing a shimmeringly colourful harmonic surface quite unlike anything else in the early 1920s piano repertoire. Each piece is brief (one to two minutes) and has its own character — Botafogo languid, Copacabana energetic, Corcovado lyrical, Ipanema nostalgic. The set is the most beloved of all Milhaud's piano works and among the most important French piano collections of the 20th century. Milhaud also orchestrated the set as Op. 67b in 1921.