Villa-Lobos's 12 symphonies spanned his musical life, the first written in 1916, the last in 1957, yet they are almost unknown. Here we are offered the First and the Eleventh (1955). They are given strong advocacy by the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra under Carl St Clair and well enough recorded, but I can't say I took to either of them. No. 1 (subtitled The Unexpected), with its dark opening string threnody and brass commentary reminded me a little of the symphonies of Howard Hanson, and the slow movement is agreeably romantic. The Scherzo chatters but the agitated finale, full of neurosis, does not seem to offer a firm conclusion to the overall argument, even though the work embraces a cyclic theme. The opening of the Eleventh is even more agitated and distraught and the Largo offers comparable melancholy with a bass clarinet and cor anglais soliloquy bringing contrast. The Scherzo is lively but pungent, and the finale, while it releases great energy, is unmemorable.
In short, both these works are strongly argued and individually scored; but little of the music is of the kind one would want to return to very often.'