reviews

A wealth of South American music remains unrecorded and so it is good that Naxos has commenced a long-overdue piano cycle of Brazil’s greatest composer, Villa-Lobos. Excellently recorded (the best I have heard from this source) and performed with an immaculate brio, the path is surely set for a major series. Villa-Lobos’s claim that his music was the fruit of an immense, ardent and generous land at once disarms familiar criticism of extravagance and formlessness. To regard such largesse through the blinkered eyes of someone exclusively nurtured on a more restrained and economical diet is unacceptable. There may be tares among the wheat but such strictures hardly apply to the music in this Vol. 1 which commences with the enchanting A Prole do Bebe, Book 1 (the Second Book is a tougher, altogether more astringent and percussive experience, while a Third Book is sadly lost, according to James Melo in his outstanding accompanying notes). Intimately associated with Artur Rubinstein (who rearranged Villa-Lobos’s miniatures, omitting some and ending O Polichinelo with an unmarked rip-roaring glissando), A Prole do Bebe is here played complete. Sonia Rubinsky makes light of a teasing rhythmic mix in Moreninha (No. 2) and in Caboclinha (No. 3) she relishes Villa-Lobos’s audacity; his way of making his seductive melody and rhythm surface through a peal of church bells. Again, despite strong competition from Alma Petchersky on ASV in the no less delightful Cirandas, Rubinsky scores an unequivocal success, ideally attuned to the central and beguiling melody of Terezinha de Jesus (No. 1) with its forte e canto instruction, and allowing the fight between the Carnation and the Rose (No. 4) to melt into a delicious love duet. Her way with the acrobatic flight of No. 12 (Olha o passarinho, Domine) and the dark erotic undertow to Que lindos olhos (No. 15) is entirely sympathetic and she makes a strong case for Villa-Lobos’s idiosyncratic tribute to Chopin; one which presents him as a man of raging passion rather than more circumspect emotion. Sonia Rubinsky is, incidentally, much celebrated in her native Brazil and also in America, and she makes one look forward to Vol. 2 with the keenest anticipation. -- Bryce Morrison

Amazon.com
At last, a replacement for Roberto Szidon's long-deleted recording of Cirandas! This is one of Villa-Lobos's most delightful works, a long piano suite (41:46 in this recording) of folk-flavored pieces that progress from one charming idea to another and never outlast their material. The Baby's Family, the first of two suites, is also charming music, made popular by Artur Rubinstein. The Chopin tribute is one of those crocks of musical dishwater Villa-Lobos stuck his hands into when his mind was on something else, but it's brief and comes at the end of the disc. Brazilian pianist Sonia Rubinsky plays with stylistic insight and gorgeous piano tone, very well captured by Naxos in a recording that sat in the can for almost five years before it was finally issued. --Leslie Gerber

Fanfare Magazine
Villa-Lobos A prole do bebê No. 1. Cirandas. Hommage à Chopin - Sonia Rubinsky (pno) - NAXOS 8.554489 (65:10)

Several pianists have begun or completed complete Villa-Lobos piano cycles, but the only trace to be found in Schwann is a couple of volumes by Alma Petchersky on ASV. I find no mention of Anna Stella Schic, whose complete cycle appeared on Solstice, or Débora Halász, who had embarked on one for BIS. That makes this hopefully titled "Volume One" by Sonia Rubinsky even more significant that it might have been. First of all, Naxos may actually allow a whole cycle to accumulate without deleting any components, and the cycle will be a much lower price than those on the ASV, BIS, or Solstice labels. The low price may encourage the curious to try a volume. Naxos, in that respect, has chosen wisely, for A prole do bebê (The Baby’s Family, a set of short pieces characterizing various dolls) is, possibly, its composer’s most popular piano collection, and Cirandas, 16 delightful elaborations of Brazilian children’s songs, deserves to be more popular than it is. Throw in Hommage à Chopin, a clever pastiche that suggests what Chopin might have written if he had been Villa-Lobos, composed in observation of the centennial of Chopin’s death, and you have a CD that’s worth a hearing, especially since Sonia Rubinsky keeps it simple, never attempting to inflate this colorful, tuneful music. Indeed, if she can keep this up, this might turn out to be the best Villa-Lobos piano cycle regardless of price. If you don’t like this CD, you probably won’t like most of Villa-Lobos’s piano music. My only question is: Why was this recorded back in 1994 and only appearing now?
Fanfarre, July/August 1999 -- James Miller

Is Heitor Villa-Lobos the last great 20th century composer to be rediscovered? Because he wrote so much, it’s easier to sidestep rather than face his overwhelming catalog point by point. The folks at Naxos, though, are tackling his Amazonian output, starting with the piano music. Brazilian pianist Sonia Rubinsky controls the undulating chordal synchopations in the wonderful Book One of A Prole do Bebê with a left hand propelled by an imaginary, rock-steady rhythm section, and never lets the pungent dissonances overshadow the melodies. Rarely heard, the delightful Cirandas are virtually the Brazilian equivalent of Bartok’s folk-inspired character pieces. The improvisatory Hommage à Chopin evokes the Polish master’s decorative syntax, filtered through Villa-Lobos’ more lush keyboard deployment. Rubinsky is both on top and inside of the Brazilian composer’s idiom, and her vivid playing is beautifully reproduced. As they say in Portuguese: "um CD sensacional." --Jed Distler

Sonia Rubinsky's highly anticipated follow-up to her acclaimed first volume in Naxos' projected Villa-Lobos piano music cycle was worth the wait. The pianist's lyrical temperament taps into the heart and soul of the composer's fecund melodicism. Compare, for instance, her caressing, curvaceous rendition of Ondulando to Deborah Halasz's more urgent, Scriabinesque outlook. While Marc-André Hamelin makes more of the purely virtuosic moments throughout the 12 pieces in A Prole do Bebé No. 2 (like the spiraling scales and almost Ivesian octaves of O Camundongo de massa), Rubinsky's more idiomatic phrasing better captures the music's wide-eyed, folkloric syntax, as in the gentle samba rhythm of A Baratinha de papel. She shapes each of the 1925 Cirandinhas (Little Round Songs) with the kind of playful vigor and accentuation that comes from having sung the originals as a child. I only hope that Rubinsky won't take another two years to give us Volume 3. An ingratiating release. --Jed Distler

The Guardian Review

Villa-Lobos: A Prole do Bebe, No 2; Cirandinhas; Valsa de Dor Rubinsky (Naxos)

"UK audiences primarily associate Heitor Villa-Lobos with the famous Bachianas Brasileiras, and tend to forget that he was one of the most prolific and wide-ranging of 20th-century composers. This disc forms the second instalment of Naxos's complete cycle of his piano music. The main work here is A Prole do Bebe ("The Baby's Family"), No 2, a rhythmically exacting, harmonically daunting and at times very adult evocation of a menagerie of toy animals. Cirandinhas ("Little Round Songs") was written while Villa-Lobos was in Paris in the late 1920s, and peers nostalgically backwards through a veneer of rococo frippery towards Brazilian folk music. The tangily chromatic Valsa da Dor ("Waltz of Sorrow") is melancholy rather than tragic. Brazilian pianist Sonia Rubinsky plays it all with a mixture of heady langour, delicate poise and exquisite finesse."

Sonia Rubinsky continues to make an excellent impression. Her earlier volume of Villa-Lobos's piano music included the delightful ‹ and less demanding ‹ Book One of A Prole do Bebe as well as the 16 Cirandas. Here she brings her remarkably able pianism to bear on the far more complex Book Two as well as the Little Round Songs, the Cirandinhas, and other smaller pieces. The fault lines between nationalism and French Impressionist influence can be endlessly argued over in relation to Villa-Lobos's music but what this disc forcefully reminds one is that his vibrancy, rhythmic brio, astringent modernism and flickering atonality are highly personalised gifts.

In the Second Book of A Prole do Bebe (The Baby's Family) the Brazilian melodies are subjected to such transformative techniques as curious metres, affirmative rhythms and heady harmonic possibilities. The melodies emerge magically translated. Jazz elements are absorbed into the bloodstream of the work without either affectation or embarrassment and elements of atonality emerge from the texture entirely consistent with it. In O Ursozinho de algodao, for example, a moto perpetuo is activated by thumping accents and unstoppable rhythm. Elsewhere in the cycle the left hand will ignite an off the beat melody to galvanizing effect. None of this should blind one to the exceptional technical demands placed on the performer ‹ this a suite of immense challenges requiring reserves of colouristic skill and imagination, both of which Rubinsky more than amply possesses.

The charming Cirandinhas are miniatures the majority of which last barely a minute and a half. In a reversal of programming Volume One presented us with the more significant Cirandas. Both sets are of interest and the Little Round Songs of Volume Two yield more peaceably to the children's view of the world, albeit not without Villa-Lobos's characteristically pungent turn of phrase ‹ listen, for example, to Lindos olhos que ela tem. A Lenda do Caboclo, with which the disc starts, is a melancholy, hypnotic piece whereas Ondulando sits more comfortably in the salon tradition. In Valsa da Dor we can perhaps hear more clearly those French influences, tinged with that of Rachmaninov, in a piece which transforms itself from a waltz into a sorrowing song in the space of five minutes.

Notes are by James Melo and they are excellent; the sound is natural and sympathetic and Rubinsky's playing is deeply impressive. Highly recommended.--Jonathan Woolf

Heitor Villa-Lobos was a nationalist composer, not in the nineteenth century sense of the word (political patriotism), but in the early twentieth century sense (preservation of cultural heritage). In 1905, Villa-Lobos began a series of travels around Brazil to collect ideas from the folk music of the regions. Like his colleagues in Europe (Kodaly, Bartok and Stravinsky, for example) his music began to reflect his discoveries, although it is sometimes difficult to isolate trends in his music, due to the sheer volume of his output.

The music in this installment comes from the first two decades of the twentieth century, and runs the gamut of styles and levels of difficulty. The Suite Floral is a lovely work, and the strong influence of the French Impressionists is most evident in these relatively obscure miniatures. Critics and scholars regard the Ciclo Brasileiro to be one of the composer’s most important works for the piano. Cast in four movements, this splendid suite presents four snapshots of Brazilian life and musical style. Perhaps most memorable is the opening movement Plantio do Cabolco, which through its ostinato perpetuo in the right hand depicts a peasant farmer casting seeds about his field. In one of the first of many works that was to focus on childhood for its subject matter, the charming Brinquedo de Roda (Children’s round games) are based on melodies from play-songs for children. These works were very likely composed as teaching pieces.

The Dansas Caracteristicas Africanas from 1915 were first heard in the 1922 "Week of Modern Art," and came under a considerable critical attack. They are based on Caripuna Indian songs, and each piece represents a different stage of life. Villa-Lobos’ series of fourteen Choros written for various instrumental combinations all of which reflect a different aspect of Brazilian musical styles are perhaps some of his best-known and significant works. Only number five from the works recorded here was originally for piano, but they are all compelling in these arrangements.

What first must be said is that this is very attractive and fresh music, varied in style and rich in melodic content and rhythmic interest. Although the influence of other composers is often evident, particularly Debussy in the Suite Floral and Chopin in other places, this is work that was obviously generated in a musical mind of vast capacity.

Sonia Rubinsky is a pianist with a completely solid technique, and a keen sense of expression, grace, humor and drama. One simply has to stop and marvel that Naxos continues to find exemplary artist after exemplary artist. There are many technical demands made of the pianist in this music, and regardless of the work, be it the simple children’s pieces Brinquedo de Roda to the formidable virtuosity of the Ciclo Brasileiro, whose opening movement ostinato must be a wrist killer, Ms. Rubinsky meets every demand with ease and panache.

Without fail, this disc meets one of the crucial demands of a series: it makes one want to go immediately to seek out the other volumes. With excellent notes by James Melo, and with some wonderfully atmospheric sonic qualities, this disc is a winner on all fronts. Yet more repertoire to explore, yet another worthy addition to the catalogue from Naxos. Bravo!--Kevin Sutton

Villa-Lobos: Piano Music Vol. 4/ Rubinsky

This is the fourth in Sonia Rubinsky’s traversal of Villa-Lobos’s complete piano music for Naxos. It’s good to be reacquainted with her thoroughly idiomatic performances once more. Having heard, reviewed and admired the second volume it is equally satisfying to observe her versatility in the repertoire, her ability to command influences and inflect with apposite colour and gravity.

This is particularly true in the case of Brasilieras No. 4 heard here of course in its original guise for solo piano. She places that single bass note with deftness ensuring the Sarabande-like momentum is not derailed into sententious gravity (though there is plenty of nobility here). It’s no surprise, given her earlier recordings in the series, that she evokes texture so well, that the colour of the Coral is so winning that the anvil evocation of bass pointing is so well and evenly hammered. Of particular merit is her control of tempo, the way in which, for example, in the Aria she starts slowly but integrates the quasi-syncopated writing with effortless elan. The Dansa finale is full of spice and colour.

Those who have followed Villa-Lobos’s excursions into the piano and quartet literature will know that he leaned toward impressionism; Children’s Carnival both reveals the debt and pursues where he took that inheritance. These pieces, separately tracked, are delightful vignettes, variously inspired by or intended for children and are models of vivacious wit. A Manha da Pierrete sports delicate chiaroscuro, Os Guizos do Dominozhino (The Little Domino’s Jingle Bells) is as winningly lively as you’d expect and in the concluding piece, A Folia de um Bloco Infantil the two piano duettists - where Rubinsky is joined by Tatjana Rankovich - display panache, unanimity of attacks, rippling passagework and fluidity in this little innocent mini-drama.

Francette et Pia was written in 1928 and commissioned for Marguerite Long’s piano class in Paris. Saucily, though technically and textually more difficult and demanding than the earlier suite, Villa-Lobos throws in a number of French quotations. These pieces aren’t separately tracked but the narrative merges nicely and in Love and in War Villa-Lobos has charm to spare. The smaller works here are saturated in his brand of lyricism; the second of Simples Coletanea (In An Enchanted Cradle) has a saturnine Debussyan compression that works very well in conveying mysterious stasis - it was written in 1918. --Jonathan Woolf

Sonia Rubinsky is a player of much talent and great sensitivity. Her affinity with the music of her native Brazil is clear (she subsequently moved to Jerusalem to study at the Rubin Academy, then on to Juilliard for a doctorate). Her playing is simply superb, be it in Villa-Lobosian Brazilian nostalgia or sheer extrovert Latin American inspired virtuosity.

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 continues the series of works of this title that unite Brazilian music with a Bachian purity. On the surface a curious mix, as anyone who has heard these pieces knows, it is in fact and inspired one. The achingly nostalgic Preludio (1941) exemplifies the pure side of the coin (the appearance of a Choral as the second movement is a logical step). Rubinsky projects a sense of grandeur of architecture in a piece that lasts 4’33. If the Aria is solemn too (although more animated later on), the finale invokes Ginastera in its abandon, but also calls to mind the minimalists in its right-hand repeated patterns. Perhaps a tad more letting down of the hair is called for than Rubinsky can manage in the studio (live something tells me she would pull it off and bring the house down). Gripping listening nonetheless.

Carnaval des Criancas exemplifies Villa-Lobos’ penchant for writing simple works for children. Yet the simplicity is born of mastery; these pieces exude charm and confidence and are simple exquisitely crafted. And Rubinsky and Tatjana Rankovich’s playing more than adequately reflects this. There is more than a touch of the Debussy of Children’s Corner here (especially in the textural transparency of the fifth movement, ˜As Peripecias do Trapeirozinho” , ˜The Little Ragpiper’s Adventures”). The last piece in this collection (and the last piece of Francette et Pia) is for piano duet and for these Rubinsky is joined by Tatjana Rankovich (on whom the booklet is silent). For the Carnival, this final piece invokes a Children’s Band, and emerges as appropriately celebrational here. The collection Francette et Pia comprises ten pieces (unfortunately not separately tracked here). The final duet symbolises the union of the two persons of the title (˜Francette et Pia jouent pour toujours“, ˜Francette et Pia play together for ever”). There is something very appealing about Villa-Lobos’ eloquent simplicity, folkloristic at times, naive at others.

The other collection on this disc is Simples Coletanea (˜Simple Collection”). Only three pices this time, Valse mistica(1917), Num Berco Encantando (˜In an Enchanted Cradle”, 1918) and Rhodante (˜Round Dance, 1919). Good that the mystic waltz is as the title directs without too much shrouding in pedal. ˜In an Enchanted Cradle is an enchanting lullaby.

Naxos has intelligently programmed a few miniatures to separate the various collections on this disc. Poema Singelo(˜Simple Song) contains a more turbulent contrastive section but remains long on charm. Rubinsky’s refusal to dally pays huge dividends. A Fiandeira (˜The Spinner”) is a delightful sound-portrait complete with wheeling figures. Yet Villa-Lobos paints his picture sensitively and evocatively - the voice of the composer is never in doubt.

Great to round off the recital with Valsa Romantica of 1907, a lovely, gentle and melancholy-laden way to close the disc.

Recommended listening. The recording is excellent.--Colin Clarke

This fine performance of the original version of Bachianas Brasilieras #4 is very welcome. The work was originally written in four sections for piano as presented here; the composer’s orchestral version dates from 1942 and is the one most often heard. Villa-Lobos was mostly self-taught. His first musical education was from native Brasilian popular and folk music and he never learned the facile European conservatory tricks, so his music sounds startlingly original. It is difficult to make his acquaintance unless you approach his music entirely on its own terms. If one is determined to find parallels, they would lie in the directions of Prokofiev, Dvorak, and Debussy, but Villa-Lobos has a trademark kind of rhythmic pulse that is frequently interrupted and shifted and contrasted with long, slow adagios.

All nine of these so-called Bachianas Brasileiras repay careful study. Number five is one of his most approachable works, but this preceding number in the series is more severe. With most of them the name Bach would never come to mind unless the composer had mentioned it, however the first movement ("Prelude") of this #4 actually does sound a little like a Bach prelude. The remaining three sections are based on strictly Brasilian sources -- birdcalls, songs, dances, with an occasional odd, oblique reference to European classical harmony and form.

The Poemo Singelo ("Simple Song") is strikingly interesting and unlike any other music.

I didn't expect to find much interest in the Carnaval das Criancas, ("Children’s Carnival") but it is more than just engaging music to entertain children. The pieces are quite intriguing in their own right and have a unity of texture and original harmony that gives the series the feel of a free-form sonata. In 1929 the composer produced an orchestral accompaniment to the existing piano lines and retitled the work Momoprecoce. In the finale of this work (and the next) a second piano is required.

Francette et Pia contains humorous "wrong note" references to a familiar French music played against odd snatches of characteristic Brasilian rhythms.

A Fiandeira ("The Spinning Woman") is a colouristic piece reminiscent of Ravel.

This exceptional pianist with a Polish sounding name and recording in Canada is nonetheless a Brasilian, born in Campinas, and was a true prodigy giving her first recital at six years old and appearing with orchestra at twelve. She holds a doctorate from the Juilliard School in New York. She has the perfect touch and style for Villa-Lobos and has already established her reputation with her recordings of the first volumes in this series of the complete piano music.--Paul Shoemaker

"... visceral impact and virtuoso excitement... top speed... tireless nervous energy... an unusual degree of power and accuracy... brilliant sonorities... lyricism... splendid fiery energy..." Will Crutchfield, The New York Times

"Brazilian pianist Sonia Rubinsky plays with stylistic insight and gorgeous piano tone..." Leslie Gerber, amazon.com

"... innocence, simplicity and the suggestion of quiet wonder... a Mozart that breathes and sings." Richmond Times-Dispatch

"... One of the happiest moments of the season. Ms. Rubinsky's musicianship goes beyond the text, she immerses herself profoundly in the message of the composer..." Rio de Janeiro, Jornal do Brasil

"... stylistic versatility... infinite tenderness... great musical sophistication... and a potent, almost iron touch" The Arizona Republic

"She produced pages of ecstasy which have not been heard since the great days of Guiomar Novaes..." Sao Paulo, Diario Popular

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