Marlos Nobre is probably the best-known Brazilian composer today. His biography, the range of his teachers, and the years he has devoted to studying his craft, tell of an insatiable thirst for knowledge and an unswerving dedication to his calling.

His professors have included Alberto Ginastera, Olivier Messiaen, Riccardo Malipiero, Aaron Copland, and Luigi Dallapiccola at the Latin American Center in Buenos Aires. Subsequently, Nobre worked at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York, in addition to a stint at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, where he attended courses by Alexander Goehr and Gunther Schuller and met Leonard Bernstein.

Back in Brazil, Nobre was music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro and of the radio run by the Ministry of Culture, but he retained his ties with the United States as visiting professor at Yale University in 1992. His international standing is indicated by his presidency of UNESCO’s International Music Council in 1986–87.

As a conductor and pianist, Marlos Nobre has appeared widely in South America and Europe.

I.

I think I can perfectly understand the point made by Lutosławski, for I have had many similar experiences in listening to music by other composers. Normally, I have no problem concentrating on the works of my colleagues, I listen attentively and with interest. It does happen, however, that a particular musical idea (be it a rhythmic pattern or a special orchestral sonority) suddenly attracts my attention. Usually, it only occupies my mind for a very short time, perhaps just a few seconds and the rest of that particular composition may hold no more interest for me. It is like a flash or an electric shock that sets in train creative ideas in my mind and could even prove to have been the impulse for composing a new work.

I can remember such moments very clearly. For instance, some years ago I was on the jury of UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers in Paris and in that capacity, listened to numerous new works. At some point, my attention was gripped by a passage of peculiar rhythmic interest. Sadly, I can no longer remember the composer’s name or the title of the piece.