VILLA-LOBOS. Bachianas brasileiras—No. 1; * No. 2; No. 5a; No. gb aVictoria de los Angeles (sop); French Radio National Orchestra Heitor Villa-Lobos. EMI Références mono cMJ (I) CDH7 61015-2 (64 minutes: ADD). Items marked a and b from ALP1 603 (9/58), Cnew to UK and recorded in 1958.

In 1958, when three of these works were issued here, there had been no previous complete recordings of Nos. 2 and 9—respectively the least and most 'Bachian' of Villa-Lobos's soi-disant fusions of Brazilian folk idiom with the spirit of his revered Bach—but No. 5 was already on its way to becoming a popular favourite. (No. I had appeared six years earlier in the memorable Capitol version conducted by Werner Janssen.) The presence of the composer as conductor lends these performances some authority as regards character, tempo, correct notes (never very easy to establish in his chaotic scores) but not dynamics; and it would be idle to pretend that they have not been bettered since. The most appealing of these, because of the seductive singing of Victoria de los Angeles in her prime, is No. 5—despite one false entry by her and some untidy ensemble playing: her cantilena in the first movement and, in the second, her rapid articulation and bird-like darting are delightful.

The Prelude of No. 9 is well played, but its Fugue becomes increasingly heavy and laboured, as does the Fugue in No. 1, though the preceding Embolada and Modinha (perhaps Villa-Lobos's most beautiful movement) are good. (May 1 draw the attention of Enrique Bátiz—also EMI—to bar 12 of the Embolada?) Rough-and-ready is the aptest description of this performance of No. 2, in which the tenor saxophone and trombone soloists might have had their names credited; but the famous "Little train" which forms its last movement is still irresistible (the composer dwelling lovingly on that last impracticable harmonic which so vividly suggests the dying wheeze of the battered old locomotive). A curiosity of this issue is Références' presentation material: succinct and to the point in the English (by our JD), empty waffle in the French, and extremely detailed information in the German, which is longer than the other two put together. L.S.