VILLA-LOBOS. PIANO WORKS. Alma Pet- * chersky. ASV ® DCA607; LEI ZCDCA607; 0 CDDCA607 (59 minutes: DDD).

Valsa da dor. Bachianas brasileiras No. 4. Ciclo brasileiro. Chbros No. 5, "Alma brasileira".

With so much Villa-Lobos piano music unrepresented in the catalogues—will no one please record the second Prole do bébé suite, the Suite floral or Simples Co/el anea?—it is a pity that this disc so largely overlaps with Cristina Ortiz's selection on Decca (417 650-1 DH; (D 417 650-213H, 12/87). Yet it is none the less welcome, and indeed in some respects even preferable to that much praised issue (Petchersky plays the correct chord at the end of the Va/so do dor, and her araponga bird in the "Coral" of Bachiana.s brasileiras No. 4 is less strident, for a start): but in the Ciclo bra.sileiro there are occasional small slips in the repetitive patterns—a bar too few in the Vivo on page 4 of "Festa no sertão", and in Dansa do Indio bronco a bar too many at the foot of page 2 and four bars too many at the foot of page 8.

One of the most attractive features of her performances is the subtlety of her tonal gradations, very effective in the reprises of the "Aria" in Bachianas brasileiras No. 4 and particularly in its isorhyth.mic "Preludio", thus lessening the monotony often felt in that movement (though twice through is excessive anyway). Also noteworthy is her use—and non-use--of the pedal in the last two pieces of the Ciclo brasileiro. She produces a lovely poetic calm in the first movement of that work, is thoroughly convincing in the complex cross-rhythms of Chôros No. 5 (so like those in Copland's Salon Mexico, though Villa-Lobos got there first), and is most affecting in the final Lento of the Va/soda dor; but does she overdo the rubatos in that sad waltz and the final page of"ImpressOes seresteiras"? A matter of taste; but what I do find inappropriate is the staccato quavers at the main-section cadences of the Va/so do dor (they belong to the contrasting Moderato section). The acoustics of the recording could with advantage have been a little more resonant; but this is still a very recommendable issue. L.S.