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VILLA-LOBOS Forest of the Amazon. • Alfred Heller, conductor; Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra; Renée Fleming, ; Chorus of the Moscow Physics & Engineering Institute. • CONSONANCE 81-0012 [DDD]; 72:54. (Distributed by Albany.)

The score to the MGM film Green Mansions proved troublesome to its composer, and became an obsession of sorts for conductor/pianist Alfred Heller. The film, based on Henry Hudson's novel of the same name, starred Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, and Lee J. Cobb, and was directed by Mel Ferrer. Villa-Lobos was commissioned to produce the music. V-L was not a neophyte film composer, but his experience with the Vargas regime, which gave its showcase composer full control as far as artistic decisions were concerned, left him ill prepared for the exigencies of American film production. The first sign of trouble was when the management of MGM informed him that he was not to orchestrate his work. Although V-L was piqued, he set upon the task in December 1958. His then- twenty-seven-year-old amanuensis, Alfred Heller, witnessed the process and gained a workable knowledge of the score. Heller was at the Radio City Music Hall in New York for the film's premiere in March 1959 and saw that V-L's score had been bowdlerized beyond recognition—virtually recomposed, or, more to the point, decomposed by Bronsilau Kaper. When V-L finally saw the film, he was deeply angered. The film was, despite the efforts of its cast and director, a critical and financial failure. V-L added sections to his original score, enlarging it to a massive symphonic poem of over seventy minutes, and renamed it Forest of the Amazon. In the spring of 1959, United Artists recorded some forty-six minutes of it with V-L at the helm of the Symphony of the Air and with the then-retired Bidu Sayäo singing new lyrics written by Dora Vasconcellos for the four songs that constitute the crux of the work. Until 1991, the score remained under the control of MGM's publisher, Robbins Music. Heller reconstructed the performing edition found on this release. As mentioned at the top, the music of The Forest of the Amazon has apparently been an obsession of Heller's for some time. He has previously released his own woodwind arrangements of its four songs: “Cair da Tarde,“ “Cancao do Amor,“ “Veleiros,“ and “Melodia Sentimental,“ on Etcetera KTC 1144. Later, he released the same (in soprano/piano arrangements), with soprano Roberta Alexander, and with himself at the piano, on Etcetera KTC 1165. I found both discs rewarding. Finally, he presents us with the full score, performed by the likely Renée Fleming and the unlikely Chorus of the Moscow Physics and Engineering Institute and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. First, to dispose of the negatives: Consonance's recording is ultra-close up, often glaring, and for those listening to it on truly linear equipment, bass shy. This, coupled with Heller's high-energy and forthright conducting, sometimes engenders a feeling of claustrophobia. Comparing it with V-L's own 1959 United Artists production (UAS 8007) shows the earlier effort to be, its recessed-ness and dimness notwithstanding, more appealingly atmospheric and, in terms of recording art, more musical. My own copy of that recording has long disappeared from my collection. Fellow reviewer James Miller kindly provided me with a tape dub of his copy which was good enough for purposes of sonic evaluation. I was, subsequently, able to audition an excellent copy of the original vinyl, which merely verified my original impressions. One of the outstanding felicities of that original production was the integration of Bidú Sayäo's voice into the instrumental texture. She only half emerges, making her, the surrogate Rima, ethereal and otherworldly. In the case of Heller's offering, Renée Fleming is recorded in more traditional soloist/orchestra balances. The upside: Her ravishing vocal art is brought squarely to the fore. The downside: Some of the mystery and magic of V-L's original conception is lost. Heller, incidentally, is on firm historical grounds in choosing this path. In V-L's July 12, 1959 performance at the Empire State Music Festival in New York, he substituted the dramatic soprano Elinor Ross to sing Rima's four songs, then titled Songs of the Tropical Forest. And now for the positives: 1) Heller offers the full score (72:54 as opposed to United Artist's roughly 46:00), restoring the piece's connective episodes that were, of necessity, cut from its LP incarnation. 2) The orchestral performance, its occasional slight intonation lapses and patches of less than ideal articulation notwithstanding, is a fully committed one (a rarity in this day and age)—a piece of living, breathing music. 3) Renée Fleming is spectacular throughout. As an unrepentant fan of the Brazilian master, I refuse to entertain discussion as to whether Forest of the Amazon makes it or not as a stand-alone score, or, given its sprawling thematic and stylistic variety, whether or not it is a symphonic poem in the traditional sense of the term. Suffice it to say that it is a late major Villa-Lobos score, full of Technicolor sonorities, his inimitable brand of exoticism, and flights of musical invention that just won't quit. Here it is served with great authority, panache, and (dare I say it?) love that take one straight to the heart of the music— making this release an essential addition to V-L's discography. William Zagorski

This article originally appeared in Issue 19:4 (Mar/Apr 1996) of Fanfare Magazine.

Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959) - MusicWeb Review Forest of the Amazon (1958)

Renée Fleming (sop) Chorus of the Moscow Physics and Engineering Institute Moscow Radio SO/Alfred Heller rec Nov-Dec 1994, April 1995, Studio 5, State House for Broadcasting and Recording, Moscow. DDD

DELOS DE 1037 [74.05]

To 'prepare' myself for this work I played through the first disc of EMI's (now deleted) six CD set of Villa-Lobos conducting his own music (CZS 7 67229 2). This was recorded in Paris between 1954 and 1958. It still sounds surprisingly good with the composer's hand-picked team of singers (Victoria de los Angeles, Maria Kareska) and instrumentalists (Aline van Barentzen, Manoel Braune, Magda Tagliaferro, Felicia Blumental). The work I wanted to hear was another epic running 73.02 compared with the Forest's 74.05. I had only recently reviewed the Cyprès re-release of Choros XII and decided it was time to try out the so-called 'four suites' of music: Descrobrimento de Brasil (The Discovery of Brazil). This was written in 1937 for Humberto Mauro's 1937 film of the same name. The four suites play quite happily as a sequence. Despite predating The Forest of the Amazon by about twenty years much the same qualities light up the music: mystical particles mingle with street songs and dances, the majesty of the great sea journey across the South Atlantic and the awe-inducing Matto Grosso interact at so many levels, the rattle of gourds contrasts with gritty dancing rhythms and Hollywood-style tunes of generous expanse and plush depth. The Forest of the Amazon is a 20 canto musical poem based on W.H. Hudson's novel 'Green Mansions'. I recall seeing this book (was it not part of a tetralogy) in Paignton's Winner Street second-hand book-shops in the early 1970s. It is a deeply unfashionable book now, rather like the once colossal sellers by Axel Munthe, Howard Spring and Howard Fast. 'Green Mansions' tells the story of Rima, the child who can speak in the tongues of the animals. No twee 'Doolittling' here. This is much more mystical. The music catches tragedy and ecstatic relaxation and the solo voice plays an anchoring role. We need not trouble to note the plot. Suffice to say that it attracted MGM who commissioned the score from Villa-Lobos. The studio made the film with some leading stars of the day (Audrey Hepburn as Rima, Anthony Perkins, Lee J Cobb. Mel Ferrer directed). Critically speaking it did not do well. The composer was told not to orchestrate the music because the studio had their own orchestrators. He was having none of this and completed the score in full- staved version. However when the film was premiered in March 1959, Alfred Heller, who worked closely with the composer and whose research and patiently inspired direction made this disc possible, was appalled to find that little of Villa-Lobos's score had survived on the soundtrack. Instead there was a suits-friendly score by Bronislaw Kaper, some Villa-Lobos simulacra and a few ... a very few ... real Villa- Lobos sequences. The composer was angry. Fortunately for us he decided to create the present tone poem from the extensive music he had written for celluloid. This is the end result. The Overture rudely, restlessly and raucously bursts in with brass and rasping male chorus and an ever-mobile string underpinning. Much of the music is feral and strides effortlessly between The Firebird and The Rite of Spring. The work is coeval with Bohuslav Martinu's Epic of Gilgamesh and some of the enigmatic music - especially the percussion lines - recall the Czech's writing in that work. Playful interludes including brittle Waltonian liquorice and hustle intervene to break the mood (track 2 2.14, track 5) and then melt into a deep-striding lyrical expression that has more in common with Korngold (the second movement of the Sinfonietta) than with Stravinsky. Villa-Lobos was a gifted tune-smith and no doubt Hollywood realised this even if they treated his music with their usual ignorance. The jaunty Baxian/Waltonian accent is also at play in the Fourth Bird Song. The composer is good at evoking the weighty majesty of natural spectacle as at the end of track 3. That track is a good one to sample - a miniature tone poem within a tone poem. This momentously majestic mood is well to the fore in the glories of the soprano's vocalise over the chattering horns and shadowing string carols of the Finale (20). Fleming's held note at 2.15 (20) is a thing of wonder and if we are prompted to remember a certain famous Bachianas that is no bad thing. The soprano appears role in four Bird Songs (tracks 4, 6, 10, 13) in which she vocalises - sometimes briefly. There is also a Vocalise so called (7). The Second Bird Song places the solo melisma discreetly amid high strings, woodwind bird song and harp riffs. The effect places the music between Debussy's Faun and Roussel's luxuriant First Symphony. The Vocalise in track 7 picks up and caringly spins the confident melody which winds in wonder through the end of Nature's Dance (track 5); a lyrical impulse also candidly on display at the end of Sails (track 8). Renée Fleming reminds us that this is the same Villa-Lobos who wrote the famous Fifth Bachianas. Listen to the pacing and dynamic balancing she despatches with such feeling in Love Song - the third of four songs (Sails, Twilight Song, Love Song, Sentimental Melody) in which words are sung. The words, which are printed in the English monoglot booklet, are given in the sung Portuguese as well as parallel English translation. Collectors of Fleming's recorded legacy must catch this CD which was taken down before she began her rapid ascent to household star status. Listen to the tasteful but untamed way she handles the diminuendo 'hairpin' at the end of Love Song. I recently heard two memorable characterisations of voices of the last century. Bob Dylan's voice was described as a marriage of diesel and peaches while Judy Garland's was a perfect balance between damage and glamour. Fleming's voice is all peaches and glamour and, at this stage in her meteor flight, blessedly low on the matron-like vibrato that drives people away from serious music the world over and which yet seems to be affected as a style ornament 'to die for' by vocal coaches. Sheerly delightful. The only minuscule technical blemishes appear in track 3 (4.15 and later in the track) where there is a gentle shushing click at pppp level. The orchestra's string section is very well stocked and the microphone placement takes you close in to the action. This is not the work's only recording. A much cut down version was recorded by the composer in the late 1950s on United Artists LP UAS-5506 with Bidu Sayão, soprano (who came out of retirement to make the recording), the Symphony of the Air and the composer conducting. I have not heard that mono recording but there is a pretty exotic alternative which I suspect is difficult get hold of except in Brazil. This is Kuarup kcd030 - http://www.kuarup.com.br/site_old/catalogo/kcd030.htm Film music buffs might easily overlook this release. In fact it should be of prime concern to them as the most faithful recreation of Villa-Lobos's score, available. I wonder if there is any chance at all of a DVD coupling Mauro's 1937 film with the MGM film. Too much to hope? This Delos disc is a rare chance to appreciate the epic Villa-Lobos. It was discerning of the company to rescue this recording from the Russian Consonance label. It has been securely and splendidly re-mastered by Jeff Mee. There is much more Villa-Lobos to appreciate. What we need now are recordings of the two late suites for chamber orchestra, the tone poems Francette e Piá (1957) and Madona (1945) with the : A Menina nas nuvens (1958), Yerma (1956), Magdalena (1947) and the two cello concertos. In addition a complete edition of his myriad songs with orchestra would not come amiss. I suspect that these would find the same numerous audience as the Canteloube songs. Sample, in good sound, this untamed tone poem written after the composer's final string quartet (No. 17) and final symphony (No. 12).

Rob Barnett

VILLA-LOBOS Floresta do Amazonas • John Neschling, cond; São Paulo SO & Ch; Anna Korondi (sop) • BIS SACD 1660 (SACD: 78:38)

This little-known score carries fascinating baggage that perfectly serves to illustrate the pitfalls that await composers who wade into that morass of commercial compromises known as Hollywood. At the very end of his life (1959), Villa-Lobos decided to take the plunge into film scores, and naively composed this gigantic score before he even arrived in Hollywood, with only Dorothy Kingsley’s screenplay as his guide, and before the film had even been shot. Apparently he imagined a pecking order that was similar to ballets, and fully expected that the film would be built around his score, not vice-versa. (I would like to add parenthetically that there are dozens of scores by top-rank composers of the 20th century whose music appears in films, but for which no score seems to exist for study and live performance. Are you listening, academic researchers?) Needless to say, the producers at MGM for the film Green Mansions were not amused, and ordered the score to be turned over to staff composer Bronislaw Kaper. Kaper extracted a few key themes, but otherwise rewrote the score entirely for the film. Villa-Lobos was extremely offended, but he was also a practical man, and he took the leftovers and fashioned a new score that presumably wouldn’t trigger any legal battles. The result is a thoroughly entrancing work, and one that would no doubt build a popular following if it were simply better known. Naturally, the orchestration is first rank, if not particularly novel; the Brazilian flavors are intoxicating, though not literal imitations of their models; and the melodic content is generous and memorable. The movements for male chorus are virile and captivating, and the sinewy soprano solos (delivered seductively by Anna Korondi) are intoxicating. Inevitable comparisons are likely between this work and Carmina Burana, both extended, many-movement works for orchestra and chorus that weave primitive rhythms into their DNA to varying degrees. The similarities more or less end at that point. Rousing choruses are important in Villa-Lobos’s score, but they are not nearly as omnipresent as in Orff’s work. A recording of this work has never been reviewed in these pages, although one appears to have been made in the late 1990s, as well as another soon after its composition. These are not easy to track down, and it would be hard to imagine them superseding this new disc in quality or idiomatic persuasiveness. Another aspect of this disc I was little prepared for was the top-of-the-line production values. I don’t believe I had ever heard the excellent São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and its polished chorus, although I have been aware of its occasional tours. Neither was I familiar with the work of conductor John Neschling or Korondi. I hope to hear more from all parties involved, but mostly I cross my fingers that this entrancing work will eventually find its way to our concert halls. No one will regret the investment. Michael Cameron

This article originally appeared in Issue 34:3 (Jan/Feb 2011) of Fanfare Magazine.

Discovery of the Month - MusicWeb Review Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959) Floresta do Amazonas, W551 (The Amazon Forest) (1958, revised by Roberto DUARTE) Anna Korondi (soprano); Male voices of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra Choir; São Paulo Symphony Orchestra/John Neschling Booklet available from Naxos Music Library BIS-SACD-1660 [77:55] - available as SACD, as download from eclassical.com (mp3 and 16-bit or 24-bit lossless) or stream from Naxos Music Library.

I’ve been meaning to hear the complete work since I was intrigued by Bidú Sayão singing the Cancao do amor and Melodia sentimental (Love Song and Sentimental Melody) from it on a Classics for Pleasure recording (228376 - see review). In Floresta do Amazonas, one of his very last works, Villa-Lobos returned to the theme of so much of his earlier music: the rain forest, the creatures that live in it, and the myths that have been woven around it. The music’s wild beauty almost defies description - try it first at the Naxos Music Library if you need to be convinced: they also have the booklet.

Sayão was past her best when she recorded the Cancao do amor, but her feeling for the music remained. If Anna Korondi doesn’t quite match her intensity, on tracks 20-21 of this recording, the quality of her voice more than compensates here and in the other items for solo voice. This BIS recording doesn’t have much competition - a single rival on Delos - but this version seems thoroughly idiomatic, like Neschling’s other contributions to the Villa Lobos recorded repertoire. The men of the São Paulo Choir even make convincing head-hunters in Cacadores de cabeca (tr.19). The recording sounds very well when streamed from the Naxos Music Library and stunning in the eclassical lossless download, which comes at the very reasonable price of $9.35: there’s also a 24-bit version for $14.03.

VILLA-LOBOS Introduction to the Choros.1, 2, 6 2 Choros for Violin and Cello.4 Choros: No. 1;6 No. 1;9 No. 2;4 No. 3;2, 4, 5 No. 4;4 No. 5;7 No. 6;1, 2 No. 7;4 No. 8;1, 2 No. 9;1, 2 No. 10;1, 2, 5 No. 11;1, 2, 7 No. 12;1, 2 Quinteto en forma de Choros.10 : No. 1;3, 12, 13 No. 2;1, 3 No. 3;1, 3, 8 No. 4;8 No. 4;1, 3 No. 5;3, 11, 12 No. 6;4 No. 7;1, 3 No. 8;1, 3 No. 9;5 No. 9.1, 3 5 Preludes.9 Suite populaire brésilienne.9 12 Études9 • John Neschling, cond;2 Roberto Minczuk, cond;3 Fabio Zanon (gtr);6 Anders Miolin (gtr);9 Cristina Ortíz (pn);7 Jean Louis Steuerman (pn);8 Donna Brown (sop);11 Antônio Meneses (vc);13 Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet;10 Sao Paulo SO Soloists;4 Sao Paulo SO Cellists;12 Sao Paulo SO Ch;5 Sao Paulo SO1 • BIS 1830 (7 CDs: 524:53)

As soon as I mention the existence of this set in my 2009 Want List, it turns up on my doorstep! The Villa Lobos gods are fortuitous. As I previously indicated, these are the defining contemporary performances of the Brazilian master’s most important cycles. In this generously packed and attractively priced box set from BIS we get the only complete recording of the Choros, the most polished of the four complete recordings of the Bachianas brasileiras, plus all the music for solo guitar thrown in as a bonus. Sound is outstanding; performances are exemplary and in many cases revelatory. It is particularly satisfying to have the large orchestral Choros all together in such assured readings. Several have been recorded piecemeal over the years—starting with Nos. 2, 5, 10, and the mammoth No.11 under the composer’s direction—and while excellent versions of individual works have been available, this complete set is eminently preferable. Neschling’s work with the Sao Paulo orchestra is familiar to Latin music buffs, but the conducting of his student and one time assistant Roberto Minczuk is equally detailed and eloquent. Minczuk, a young Brazilian-born maestro, takes charge of the Bachianas brasileiras. His approach is disciplined and somewhat contained. At first I felt a lack of lushness, particularly in the oft-recorded No. 2: no overt heart- on-sleeve interpretation here, no spotlighting of a sultry saxophone line or a languid trombone glissando. Instead we have polish, balance, clarity, and a lightness of touch. Every strand of the texture communicates; it never turns into an amorphous mass of generalized activity. You might say Minczuk’s Bachianas brasileiras is more Bach than Brazil. In “The Little Train of the Caipira” (No. 2/IV) he reminds us that behind all the percussive choo-choo effects there flows a melody built on the structural model of a Bach aria. His feeling for tempo ensures that movements that can grow relentless in other hands (for example, the final Toccata of No. 3) manage to sparkle instead. It is a praiseworthy achievement. The soloists are all distinguished names. Ortíz is well established as a champion of the composer, having recorded the five piano concertos and much of his solo piano music. Her rendition of Choros No. 11 is full of light and shade, while in this recording of Choros No. 5 (her third that I know of on disc) she remains as subtle and supple as ever. In 1977, Ortíz made a highly praised recording of Bachianas brasileiras No. 3 for EMI with Ashkenazy (one of his earliest discs as a conductor). In the current set, the solo part in that work is taken by Steuerman, whom I did not realize was also a native of Brazil. Steuerman made his initial impact as a Bach pianist, so his “classical” approach tallies neatly with that of Minczuk. He plays Bachianas brasileiras No. 4 with all the sense of style he would bring to a Baroque suite. (No. 4 appears here in both its solo piano and orchestral forms.) Canadian soprano Donna Brown is fine in Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, although she employs too wide a vibrato in the arioso. Recorded competition in this work is fierce, of course, beginning with Bidú Sayão and continuing through Victoria de los Angeles, Netania Davrath (with Bernstein—still my favorite), Kiri te Kanawa, and many other silver-toned songbirds. The Sao Paulo sessions date from 2002–2006. The set is filled out with two earlier BIS recordings: the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet’s Quinteto en forma de Choros from 1998 (a tight, colorful performance) and Miolin’s 1994 traversal of the composer’s solo guitar music. Villa-Lobos’s guitar output is of major importance: he played the instrument himself, although most of these pieces were composed for and premiered by Segovia. Miolin is an expert player, tending toward the rhapsodic rather than a rhythmic snap in his approach. A churchy acoustic robs his sound of immediacy, but this disc is still a worthwhile addition to the package. The set boasts two performances of Choros No. 1 for guitar; in the newer performance, Fabio Zanon shows greater imagination and boasts cleaner sound. In summary, you could not make a better Villa-Lobos investment. With this and the Dorian Sono Luminus reissue of the complete string quartets, you have everything you need. Phillip Scott

This article originally appeared in Issue 33:3 (Jan/Feb 2010) of Fanfare Magazine.

Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959) - MusicWeb Review The Complete Choros and Bachianas Brasileiras Full track listing at end of review Donna Brown (soprano); Elizabeth Plunk (flute); Sato Moughalian (flute); Ovanir Buosi (clarinet); Alexandre Silvério (bassoon); Anders Miolin (guitar); Fabio Zanon (guitar); Cláudio Cruz (violin); Johannes Gramsch (cello); Jean Louis Steuerman (piano); Cristina Ortiz (piano) São Paulo Symphony Orchestra Choir; Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet; São Paulo Symphony Orchestra/Naomi Munakata; John Neschling; Roberto Minczuk rec. 2002-2006, São Paulo (Choros; Bachianas); 1994, Traumton Studio, Berlin- Spandau (quintet); 1998, Furuby Church, Sweden (guitar solo). DDD BIS-CD-1830/32 [7 CDs: 524:53]

I applaud Bis for having taken their Villa-Lobos Choros and Bachianas Brasileiras cycles to Brazil to record during the 2000s; that’s six CDs’ worth. While I am no believer that the true way for any composer must be found with artists from the composer’s own homeland these are undeniably spicy, hyper-coloured and poetically well judged readings. The technology does not let down the artistry. With that in the background it comes as no surprise to me that the six orchestral discs have been gathered as a single set. However you may well already have bought them separately. Such is the music-making from Neschling and his soloists and technical partners that it will be no surprise if you had decided not wait. The seventh disc is of music for solo guitar. It was recorded in Europe and has been pressed into service to complete the sequence of Choros with Choros No. 1.

In 2003 the late and lamented ASV issued a collection of the first seven Choros using Gran Canaria forces (review). It was a good disc but there was to be no volume 2 let alone a third. Then again you could pick up some of the Choros on the various EMI collected editions of the composer in his own music from the 1950s (0077776722924). Nothing however compares with the splendour of these three discs (review of individual discs) starting with the epic Choros 11.

In Choros 11 we encounter the only independent big name soloist in the whole project. It is Cristina Ortiz who has recorded epic V-L before: the Momoprecoce and the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 3 (effectively a four movement piano concerto) are major pieces which she tackled for EMI with Ashkenazy when he was a tyro baton-wielder (review). She also set down all five of the composer’s piano concertos for Decca. Ashkenazy returned to No. 11 for the outstanding version that is to be found on a single disc on the Ondine label.

The style of BB3 is romantically exultant rather than heavy with sultry impressions of the Brazilian jungle. There' s something of that style in Choros 11. The central movement is wonderfully life-enhancing. It's a fine heroic work with none of the wild street or jungle stuff. This work, on a grand scale, dates from 1928 and was premiered in Rio de Janeiro in 1942 conducted by the composer. The dedicatee Artur Rubinstein was at the piano. You must hear it. The quality of the recording, which is truly awesome, can be gained by listening to the last five minutes. Ah! that rasping edge to the brass!

More obviously intimate and for solo piano is Choros 5. It is incantatory, rolling, mesmeric yet develops a brightness which might almost be John Ireland after all that ecstatic tolling. The railroad syncopation of the last section leaves us in no doubt that this is music tapping into the irrepressible vigour of South America. The music then sinks, with resignation or satiation, into the slow incantation from which it arose. The Settimino is delightfully alive with soloistic activity constantly in collage-kaleidoscopic action.

The Choros 7 has elements of the national native character largely omitted from Choros 11. There is some Stravinsky in this and coincidentally some Lambert as well. This music cheekily and cheerily winks, gleams and glints. Bird-song also cuts through the texture adding peppery harmonies and a feral pulse.

Volume 2 includes two of the purely orchestral Choros: 6 and 9. No.8 is also there and is for large orchestra and two pianos. All three are each between 20 and 25 minutes duration. No. 6 includes plenty of native Brazilian instruments but used discreetly. Barking brass nicely offsets the jungle gurgles at 3:45. It is overall a work of surging and blooming power.

From extravagant power we come to the winsome intimacy and sweetly sentiment- infused Choros 1 from 1920 for solo guitar.

Onwards to Choros 8! This is also known as Choros de Danca. It too makes use of native instruments. It bustles and hip-sways from the start. Strange exotic birds weave their birdsong into the material. It was written in Paris and Rio and premiered in Paris in 1927 at the Concerts Colonne - the composer conducting.

Choros 4 is for four brass instruments - grumpy, subtle, anxious, and at last swept into the carnival with popular street music as at 4.50. Wonderfully gritty playing.

Choros 9 is also pleasing. It’s from 1929 but had to wait until 1942 before its premiere which took place in Rio. It's a work in which the orchestra is again buttressed by various folk instruments. It's another epic-spirited work with grand matters mixed with hypnotic warmth and jungle carnival vitality. Just relish the deep grunt and rasp of the writing, the bird-song at 18:04 and the commercial street samba-rumba of the brass. It rises to a celebratory climax in the last uproariously joyous pages.

Volume 3 starts with the major work that is the Introduction to the Choros with a substantial role for solo guitar. This prepares the way for the first Choros for solo guitar. Interesting that at 5.13 the music evokes Ravel's Bolero. There is some slippery and timeless music for flutes coursing high and soft at 6:55 - it's almost a sentimental film score.

The two Choros Bis were intended as epilogues to the complete cycle. Indeed VL had thoughts that the whole cycle would be performed at a single or several concerts. The First, for violin and cello, sings capriciously through the violin. The cello acts as rhythm man. There is more lyrical work for the cello in the second of the two.

The Choros No. 2 is for flute and clarinet. It soon gurgles its street rhythm and sway with the flute adding bird-song streamers to the unwinding clarinet line.

Choros No. 3 Pice-Pau (Woodpecker) is a glorious seismic immersion in the street-jungle style for male choir and wind instruments.

Choros 12 is a big, swaying piled-high hay wagon of a work. It starts with a teeming rhythmic seethe. Soon a lovely sentimental melody enters the room and this is developed to glowing effect. This sultry rhapsodic work soon enjoys jungle whoops and chirping on a grand scale. It was premiered in Boston on 21 February 1945 with the Boston Symphony; the composer conducting

Choros 10 is for orchestra and mixed choir. It is one of his most mysterious works: quiet, spare and spectral at times. Mysteries are hinted at and spells unfold. As it moves into its second half the pecked and sometimes ecstatically wailed choral part becomes more prominent with great upblasts of brass expostulation. There is something of Orff's Carmina Burana here. One wild outburst reminds one of nothing so much as Walton's 1931 Belshazzar’s Feast. Could he have heard Choros No. 10 or seen the score?

After Choros 12 there were to be two other big Choros. Sadly these (13 and 14) were lost when the composer was unable to pay the rent for his flat in Paris where the scores were kept. No. 13 was for two orchestras and band while No. 14 sported a huge number of performers including instrumentalists and singers. It is said also to have used quarter tones in the vocal parts.

The Bachianas Brasileiras are much more than museum case exhibits. They’re certainly not pastiche. Regard them more as a free expression by Villa-Lobos of his love for Bach’s music. The include the most ubiquitous of Villa-Lobos’s works the BB No. 5 made famous by the recording by Victoria de los Angeles. The version here hits the right marques but stands a shoulder down from de los Angeles. No. 4 begins with a shadow of Bach’s Partita BWV 830 before developing into a phantasmagoria of display at the hands of Jean Louis Steuerman. The Sixth is a subtly intricate construct for two instruments. The First is for an orchestra of swaying and swinging cellos and there’s plenty of rhythmic torque. The Seventh is very accessible and luxuriant and the Sao Paulo forces seem instinctively au fait with the style and manner. Be aware that when David Harbin reviewed this disc some years back he spoke highly of the Michael Tilson Thomas BMG-RCA recording – a version I have not heard. The stern Ninth, is heard here in versions for string choir and a cappella voices. The impressive Bachianas Brasileiras No. 8 is not about surface glamour. Good to have the chance to hear the Fourth also in its versions for solo piano and for orchestra. Bis draws on earlier recordings from their treasury. From the 1990s comes the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet in the tastily swung Quinteto em forma de choros. Anders Miolin’s cool and revealing cycle of the music for solo guitar reminds us of Villa-Lobos’s engaging prowess in the genre. Andrés Segovia was the vital spark for this music. That last disc serves as a palate-freshener after some the more voluptuous eruptions of the lavish orchestral scores.

There have been several cycles of these works on LP and CD with other Brazilian artists on local labels. I have not heard these – but would like to.

Cleverly Bis have side-stepped the competition by fusing the two cycles. No-one else has done that. However be aware of Batiz’s brilliant cycle of the BB on EMI. From the same label comes another big boxed set Villa-Lobos par lui-même. It runs to six CDs of the orchestral music in performances by Heitor Villa-Lobos conducting L'Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, with Fernand Dufrene (flute), Maurice Cliquennois (clarinet); Jacques Neilz (violin), Henri Bronschwak (cello), Manoel Braune, Aline van Berentzen, Magda Tagliaferro and Felicia Blumental (piano); Rene Plessier (bassoon) and Victoria de los Angeles (soprano). That incomplete Parisian cycle is in 1950s mono. Ian Lace’s review of one of the CDs gives a good flavour of the experience. Match these with the Ortiz Decca collection of all five piano concertos and CPO’s very impressive complete edition of all twelve symphonies and you have much of the non-vocal V-L commodiously available to explorers, the curious and collectors. The solo piano music is on Naxos and the complete string quartets can be had in a delightful boxed set from the inspired Cuarteto Latinoamericano on Dorian Sono Luminus.

You can still get each of the Bis discs individually but at a very considerable total cost for the seven.

The notes are good and interesting. The few sung words are in the booklet

Look at the playing times on these CDs. One is in excess of 81 minutes. And, by the way, I had no trouble playing it.

This set is the place to go for a single collection conjoining the Choros and the Bachianas Brasileiras - brilliantly ignited and sustained from intimate solo works to seismic extravagance.

Rob Barnett