The first and outstand­ing volume of Sonia Rubinsky’s cycle of Villa­Lobos’s piano music was issued in 1999 (7/99). But the wait for Volume 2 proves more than worthwhile as‚ once again‚ she proves herself a fluent and sympathetic interpreter of music which encompasses the widest range of material and exotica. Prole do bebê No 2 is a far cry from No l (at the heart of Rubinsky’s first disc). Here a childhood innocence‚ coloured by the sort of sophistication that endeared such music to Artur Rubinstein‚ is transformed into a no less mesmeric but barbaric world‚ one where outwardly amiable creatures (‘the little paper bug’‚ ‘the little cardboard cat’ etc) display a savagery at odds with their titles. But if a touch of expressionist nightmare hangs over this bewildering Suite‚ it is resolved in Cirandinhas (the more elaborate Cinrandas were included in Vol 1) where chameleon­like changes of mood are registered with a natural delight in childhood memories. Then there are the seductively swaying rhythms of the more familiar A Lenda do Caboclo‚ a melodic charm in Ondulando that makes division between so­called ‘classical’ and ‘popular’ music seem reprehensible‚ and the gloriously insinuating Valsa da Dor. For Villa­Lobos‚ that ‘wild untutored Phoenix’‚ music was first and foremost an inclusive art‚ making him susceptible to every passing sight‚ sound and emotion. An ardent nationalist‚ he could boldly exclaim‚ ‘I am Brazilian folk­lore’. Rubinsky faces dazzling competition from Marc­André Hamelin in both books of Prole do bebê (Hyperion‚ 10/00) and her Valsa da Dor is less stylish or intense than from Arnaldo Cohen in his recently released album‚ ‘Brasiliana’ (see page 83). But her playing is never less than warmly affectionate – magically so in Ondulando – and she has been beautifully recorded.