Turibio Santos, a Brazilian closely associated with the guitar music of Villa-Lobos for more than 20 years, has recorded most of this material before; however, this being the composer's birth-centenary year, he has done so anew. Villa-Lobos was a very adept guitarist, albeit unorthodox in his self-acquired technique (as in most matters), and well able to play his own music for the instrument—which is just as well since Segovia's first reaction to some of it was to declare it ''unplayabl''. Of course it is all playable, as performers continually prove, for Villa-Lobos was a 'nuts-and-bolts' composer who wrote with the guitar on his lap, though it is not always easy to thread the nuts on to the bolts and to tighten them firmly.
This two-disc set is designated an ''integral'' recording and for all practical purposes it is such; though Villa-Lobos is known to have written much more than there is here, the rest has been lost—including the elusive Prelude No. 6, if it ever really existed. Much, though not all, of this music is already recorded but less is available on CD than on LP; the major source on CD is Bream's assemblage of the most important items, the Concerto, the Preludes and Etudes (RCA CD RD89813, 2/87).
Many guitarists, whilst offering very differing views of the music, claim a unique 'hot line' to the composer's intentions. Santos is not one of them but he is Brazilian, the Artistic Director of the Villa-Lobos Museum, and his views are presumably endorsed by the composer's widow, Arminda; and he does what the printed scores ask for, without 'improvement'. His tone is somewhat hard and matter of fact, and there are moments of evident technical strain, but these are readings that should be heard and respected. The playing of his colleagues in the Concerto and the Sexteto mistico is sometimes less polished and precise than one might wish, and Leila Guimares's intonation is rather wayward; there is, however, nothing lacking in spirit. Pace the annotator, Villa-Lobos did not ''always'' use the term Choros in the plural; he merely followed the practice of using it for individual items in numbered sets—as does the inlay booklet—though it does list Bachiana brasileira No 5 (sic). The recording is good, though short of excellent, and all in all this is an important issue for lvoers of this colourful, imaginative and refreshingly unorthodox composer.JD