Sonia Rubinsky (piano)

Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) was one of the most prolific of all 20th-century composers. The works on this seventh volume of the complete piano works show the multilayered nature of Villa-Lobos’s idiom, which is as exuberant as the Brazilian landscape that inspired him so often.

Amazonas, subtitled ‘Brazilian Indian ballet’, is based on indigenous themes that were embedded in the texture, and innovatively varied and transformed through sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic experiments. Even today Amazonas remains startling for its adventurous musical language.

Several of the shorter pieces on this disc exist only in manuscript, and receive here their world première recording.

“Sonia Rubinsky's colorful and technically shipshape interpretations are as lovingly nuanced and thoroughly idiomatic as we can desire, and they're beautifully recorded as well. In sum, this valuable addition to the Villa-Lobos discography deserves no less than the highest rating and warmest recommendation.”
Classics Today