** 1/2 VILLA-LOBOS: Bachianas Brasilieras No. 2 GOMES: “Il Guarany” Overture; MONCAYO: Huapango; GINASTERA: Variaciones Concertantes; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Enrique Diemecke, conductor; Intersound
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The wonderfully lithe and colorful Villa-Lobos suite is the keeper on this disc. Orchestral solo playing would seem to be the tie that binds rather loosely this Latin American collection, and it is warm, sly and actively expressive in this 1996 recording. Diemecke finds a nice balance between relaxation and momentum, and the whole orchestra seems encouraged to fluid wonders by the solo bounty.
Ginastera’s variations, on the other hand, sound dutiful and even a bit glum here, with competent but mostly undermotivated solos. Diemecke has led some idiomatic Huapangos locally, but this London effort is almost unrecognizably polite, while the Gomes performance is rhetorically ripe testimony to a 19th century Brazilian’s successful effort to crash La Scala and out-Verdi the Italians.
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