Although Czech soprano
Gabriela Benacková is pictured on the back cover of this disc along with guitarist
Lubomír Brabec, she appears on only the first two tracks -- the Aria from the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, and a short "Modinha." She sort of overwhelms the aria, with entrances attacked with such force that they don't quite synchronize with
Brabec's pitches. The rest is all
Brabec, a technically gifted guitarist whose talents seem to run to moodier pieces. In the final and little-heard Sexteto Mistico he is joined by the unusual combination of flute, oboe, alto saxophone, celesta, and harp in what is perhaps the highlight of the entire album -- a luminous continuum of instrumental sounds spread across subtle French neo-Classic textures.
Brabec is not entirely successful at teasing the specific emotions out of the 12 Etudes originally dedicated to
Andrés Segovia, but his performances of the Five Preludes are rich and evocative. One might not instinctively pick this Czech recording of
Villa-Lobos' technically and interpretively challenging Brazilian guitar music off the shelf, but it offers a number of small and unusual pleasures.