Album Reviews

Villa-Lobos’s folk-oddity “The Little Train of the Caipira” from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2 is a delightful, evocative piece of music, as colorful as the cover artwork and a sonic spectacular guaranteed to delight even the most classical music-averse audiophiles.

The music, inspired by a trip the composer took in 1931 on a rural train transporting farm laborers between villages in the Brazilian province of Sao Paolo (the word “caipira,” roughly translated, means “yokel”), would have you thinking “steam train up a mountain” even had you not known the composition’s title.

Scored for chamber orchestra: flute, oboe, clarinet, tenor sax, horns, trombone, bass drum, snare, cymbals, triangle and tambourine and augmented by four “local” instruments (“reco-reco”- a notched wooden cylinder, “chucalho”-a rattle with gourd seeds, “ganza”- a metal tube filled with gravel and a “matraca” a ratchet), the music makes a sweet, percussive racket as it describes the train’s exuberant, but labored journey up the mountain, climaxing in a short, dazzling chord signifying its arrival.

A great deal of musical fun combine with sonic fireworks to produce a piece of music that delights every play. I first discovered the album on an Everest original found at a garage sale. I was taken with both the title and the fanciful cover art and besides, at that point in time (the early 1990’s) I was buying every record I could find on Everest, Mercury, RCA “Living Stereo” and other “usual suspect” audiophile labels.

I was not disappointed with the original of this, even though the vinyl Everest used wasn’t as quiet as the recordings deserved and even though the transfer was not done from the original 35MM tape. Instead, Everest dubbed down to ¼” 15 IPS for the lacquer cutting.

For this reissue, Classic went back to the original 35MM master tape (sprocketed 35MM tape normally used for film sound) played back on a rebuilt Westrex 35MM playback dubber meticulously restored by History of Recorded Sound’s Len Horowitz.

The results on this, and all of the other Classic Everest 35MM reissues, were well worth the effort. The recording, probably by Bert Whyte, is massively dynamic, exceptionally transparent and asserts itself on a deep, wide soundstage. It’s laughably superior to the original in every way. A bit of string glare upon their first entry doesn't interfere for long with the sonic pleasures that include massive tympani "thwacks" and dramatic percussives throughout.

The Villa-Lobos piece is paired with two modern pieces by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera—short, equally evocative and dramatic ballet suites that you’ll find equally spectacular and demanding of your attention.

Combine the music, the sound, a superbly pressed on 200g Quiex-SV-P slab of vinyl and Classic’s paper on cardboard jacket and you have a first class reissue worthy of a label called “Classic” Records. I can’t think of a more enjoyable “introduction” to classical music than this reissue.