Ask someone about Brazilian music and they will no doubt talk of the samba, streets full of percussionists and maybe even the laid back bossa novas of Anton Carlos Jobim (of The Girl From Ipanema fame). It is not a country particularly well known for its composers of art music, and Villa-Lobos is by far the most renowned of its musical offspring in this genre. Like the best nationalist composers, Villa-Lobos went far beyond merely stringing together arrangements of indigenous melodies in an attempt to capture them for posterity (in fact his works very rarely utilize existing folk tunes). Instead, he wove their rhythmic and melodic traits into a completely original sound world, taking in contemporary harmonic influences from composers such as Milhaud and Stravinsky along the way.

According to the sleeve notes, the composer was a poor pianist, which one can hardly believe considering both the idiomatic ease and technical virtuosity of his piano compositions.

...the composer makes the piano sparkle like the brightest of night...

The pieces presented on this recording are mostly miniatures, divided into three sets. The first, As Três Marias (a musical depiction of the three belt stars in the constellation Orion) is mesmerising in the way the composer makes the piano sparkle like the brightest of night skies.

A Prole do Bebê ('The Baby's Family') is the collective title for the other two sets. The childish names of the pieces are deceptive in that they reveal Villa-Lobos as a composer of real depth and quality. The range of moods evoked in the suites is immense, from the beautifully simple The Little Mestiza Clay Doll (where the folk music influences are at their most explicit) to the violent climax of The Little Wooden Horse. Included in the first suite is O Polichinello ('Punch'), which was the last music Arthur Rubinstein played in public, aged 89; a great testament to the composer from such a great artist.

In contrast to the miniature forms that make up the large proportion of the disc, the recording ends with Rudepoêma (Savage Poem), a work that clearly shows that Villa-Lobos could span a larger musical framework. It is a tour de force of piano writing that takes the listener from moments of ecstatic calm through to devilish frenzies and wild brutality.

For any pianist, the pieces on this disc represent a huge technical and musical challenge, and the physical and mental demands seem immense. In Marc-Andre Hamelin, Hyperion have found a perfect medium for getting the music across; even the most difficult passages have amazing clarity of touch. Coupled together with a beguiling sense of musicality this makes for thoroughly compelling listening.

Gavin Meredith