The word ‘Chôro’ derives from the verb chôrar (to weep), a reflection of the vein of melancholy never far below the surface of even the more cheerful of Brazilian popular music – a dichotomy in the national character, inherited via the Portuguese fado. The 14 Chôros of Villa-Lobos are remarkable fusions of the multi-faceted music of Brazil with that of Europe, written in the 1920s, long before the induction of American popular music gave birth to bossa nova.

After completing the cycle in 1929, Villa-Lobos added a trailer-like ‘Introduction’ in which he refers to themes that have yet to be heard in the various Chôros. To an orchestra of epic size and variety he adds a guitar, the instrument to which the first Chôro is entrusted; its thematic material, however, is not that of the Chôro, rather is it related to the opening of his then-unwritten Guitar Concerto.

No two works call for the same instrumentation. No 2 is a dance-rhythmic flute/clarinet duet. No 3, for male chorus and wind, is based on an Indian song, Villa-Lobos’ earliest depiction of rainforest Brazil. No 4, for three horns and trombone, is portentous, contrapuntal and amusing by turns. No 5, subtitled Alma brasileira (‘Brazil’s soul’) encapsulates the melancholy/cheerful dichotomy. No 6, for full orchestra, returns to the landscape of Brazil, a kaleidoscopic ‘tour’ of its vast size and variety. There is nothing specifically Brazilian about No 7 (for eight-part chamber ensemble) save some fleeting dance rhythms and its unmistakable character, but it is essentially cheerful with a romantic core.

No other corpus of his works offers greater access to the imaginative and colourful world of Villa-Lobos, and the catalogue lists no currently available of the Chôros in their entirety. The remaining seven are scheduled to follow on a second disc. These splendid performances do full justice to every piece and are as well recorded as might be hoped for. They are both listener-friendly and unique in the 20th-century world of music and I cannot too strongly recommend you to come to know them through this recording.