Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras

Heitor Villa-Lobos - Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française

Victoria de los Angeles: soprano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 164 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 53 mb
Artwork @ 300dpi = 16 mb

Total playing time: 64:29

Recorded:
1-2: 7 & 13.VI.1956
3-6: 10 & 11.V.1956
7-9: 8 & 9.I.1958
10-11: 16.V.1956

Salle de la Mutualité, Paris

Released:
1998, EMI 7243 5 66912 2 3

Track listing:
1. No.5 for soprano and 8 cellos (1938/1945) - 1. Ária. Cantilena
2. No.5 for soprano and 8 cellos (1938/1945) - 2. Dança. Martelo
3. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 1. Prelúdio. O Canto do Capadocio
4. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 2. Ária. O Canto da Nossa Terra
5. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 3. Dança. Lembrança do Sertão
6. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 4. Tocata. O Trenzinho do Caipira
7. No.1 for cellos (1930) - 1. Introdução. Embolada
8. No.1 for cellos (1930) - 2. Prelúdio. Modinha
9. No.1 for cellos (1930) - 3. Fuga. Conversa
10. No.9 for string orchestra (1945) - 1. Prelúdio
11. No.9 for string orchestra (1945) - 2. Fuga

Reviews:
Gramophone:
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. 1 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 I 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).

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