Villa-Lobos' Symphony No. 12, his last, was completed on his 70th birthday and shows no lessening of his powers, marrying symphonic craftsmanship with explosive energy, harmonic richness, and rhythmic vitality; a fitting summation of his symphonic canon. Uirapuru is one of his most original works, couched in a modernism that teems with colour and creates a specifically Brazilian sound world without drawing on folkloric elements, whilst Mandu-Çarará is a notably inventive, lush, and exciting but little-known secular cantata.

Carl St Clair and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra have recorded all Villa-Lobos' symphonies. They are available in a 7-CD boxed set, or singly - No.12, which is in our release, is coupled with Symphony No.4 on CPO999525, which was released in 2001 but is still in print. Uirapurù is one of his best-known works, known from Eduardo Mata's recording on Sono Luminus in 1995 with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, though this was coupled with other Latin American ballet scores - not by Villa-Lobos. It was released on the same label in 2009. Its most internationally-famed recording however remains that by Stokowski. Mandu-Çarará is not at all well-known but is very exciting and uses a text in the indigenous Nheengatu language. This disc is part of the complete cycle of Villa-Lobos' symphonies.