I hate to nit-pick but this excellent complete Bachianas brasileiras (previous instalments having contained Nos 2‑4 and 7‑9 – 2/07) is not quite complete. This might seem ungrateful given BIS’s inclusion of both versions of No 9 and the piano original of No 4 but Villa-Lobos’s arrangement for soprano and guitar of the Aria (Cantilena) that originally comprised No 5 – before he added the Dança (Martelo) in 1945 – is missing (although it has been recorded before). In truth, it is a minor cavil amid the riches on offer. The cellists of the São Paulo SO give measured and beautifully poised accounts of Nos 1 and 5 and the performers catch the intimacy one expects of the medium. Donna Brown is in fine voice in No 5; if not displacing Hendricks (EMI, 11/87) or De los Angeles (EMI), neither is she outclassed by them and I prefer her account to Symonds (Naxos, 12/05) or Guimarães (Iris, 2/02).

No 4 may well be the most unfamiliar to those who know the standard “orchestral” version, at once more immediate in the closeness of its sound and evocative of Bach in its use of a keyboard. Jean Louis Steuerman (no relation, it seems of the great Eduard) plays with great finesse and understanding, though he faces stiff opposition from both Petchersky (ASV, 9/88) and Freire (Warner). These rivals though are not part of cycles and Steuerman’s account accords nicely with its companion pieces. Stunning BIS sound, as usual.

Irineu Franco Perpétuo’s booklet-note states that the First Bachiana was composed in 1932 although “only the last two movements of the piece were played [at the premiere], which has led some authors to suppose that the first movement was composed later”. I would be intrigued to know the authority for this as the dating of the score is inconclusive and the composer notorious for misleading enquirers about all aspects of his life and music.