Bachianas Brasileiras Nos. 2, 4 and 8.

• Author: Holston, Mark

Although the majority of Heitor Villa-Lobos's compositions remain to be heard and fully appreciated by an international audience, his popular Bachianas Brasileiras has long been recognized as an example of one of the most successful marriages of indigenous idioms and the European classical tradition ever accomplished. This splendid recording by conductor Jesus Lopez-Cobos and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra celebrates the composer's ingenious ability to utilize appropriated Brazilian rhythmic and melodic motifs within the framework of his Johann Sebastian Bach-influenced writing.

Included is the often-performed "O trenzinho do Caipira," which has become the signature Villa-Lobos work. But that is just the beginning. The aria from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 8, a brooding, full-bodied orchestral work, reveals the influence of Italian opera in Brazil in the nineteenth century. The...