Heitor Villa-Lobos composed nine Bachianas Brasileiras, his music saturated with sounds of Brazil, the country's indigenous songs and dances, while also looking back to the counterpoint and forms of J.S. Bach.
The works were written for various ensembles, one for cellos and soprano, one for eight cellos and one for solo piano. This disc presents three, the Second, Fourth and Eighth: each is given a thrilling, luxurious reading by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
The Second, typically in four movements, is a set of Respighi-esque tone poems evoking the Brazilian life and land. The final movement, Toccata, is famous for its explicit musical evocation of a railroad, and the composer allegedly wrote the number whilst riding a train: in the music's stuttering, accelerating rhythms and wind glissandi we hear the chugging vessel make its steady progress. Villa-Lobos' style in this suite ranges from the pictorial to the evocative. The lush melodies and warm harmonies of the second movement, Aria, seem to radiate heat, reminding me of the sweltering glory of Ennio Morricone's film scores, in particular that of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The orchestra, under Jesús López-Cobos, lacks a final coating of polish, the violins tending to sound scrawny in their faster writing, but the composer's sound world is presented in frequently sensuous, ecstatic glory. López-Cobos clearly defines the spiky rhythms and allows one to wallow in the music's often bittersweet lyricism. In the Fourth of the Bachianas Brasileiras, the Preludio's Bachian counterpoint is magically infused with steaming grandeur. In the Dansa, it is thrilling to hear the patterns of instrumental virtuosity, as nimble, tapping rhythms pile upon one another.
These compositions are simple, and also beautiful in their simpleness; the performances here are unfailingly characterful and evocative, presenting a rich sound world in which to languish and a propulsive rhythmic drive to carry one forward.
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