Arnaldo Cohen - Brasiliana: Three Centuries of Brazilian Music (2001)

Arnaldo Cohen’s well-chosen and brilliantly performed cross section of Brazilian piano miniatures spanning three centuries is akin to a huge array of unexpected yet tasty, exquisitely prepared appetizers and desserts decked out on a huge banquet table. Each piece is effectively idiomatic and teeming with charm. Cohen orchestrates his running order to ensure plenty of mood, tempo, and textural contrast. The pianist’s generous but never lavish rubato and ample sonority help transform waltzes by Francisco Braga, José Siqueira, Radames Snattali, and Francisco Mignone into beautifully wrought tone poems. And Cohen brings remarkable flair and poise to more virtuosic selections such as 18th-century composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia’s Weber-like Fantasia No. 4 and Cláudio Santoro’s rhythmically exuberant, jazz-tinged Paulistanas.

Polka meets chorinho in Ernesto Nazareth’s high-register romp, Apanhei-te, Cavaquinho, in contrast to the thumbnail simplicity of Octavio Pinto’s little children’s pieces. Perhaps Nazareth’s Odéon is a bit too straightlaced and lacking in undulating lilt, not unlike how some classical pianists don’t quite nail Gershwin’s swing. But that’s a minor quibble. Let’s just hope Brasiliana represents the start of an Arnaldo Cohen/BIS relationship. This marvelous pianist has made way fewer recordings than his protean gifts merit. Superb, informative notes and warm, roomy engineering seal my enthusiastic recommendation.