This is a reissue of an album originally released on 1750 Arch in 1978 and it�s a beaut. The twelve selections include Preludes #1-5, four Etudes (3�s 5, 7, 8 and 11) and three pieces written to evoke the Brazilian street bands of Villa-Lobos� youth. The guitarist is Joseph Bacon and he performs with amazing delicacy, depth and grace. The liner notes mention that, in addition to studying with the likes of Segovia and Julian Bream, Bacon entered into an extended period of study of Indian music with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. It�s seriously tempting to hear slight, very slight, echoes of the raga in the gloss on some of these compositions, adding an unusually exotic pinch of spice to an already flavorful stew. Much like Satie�s works, these pieces require both a lightness of touch as well as a sense of abandon, of flinging oneself into them without squashing them. Bacon�s clean, warm fingerings are just the trick, bringing out the enormous amount of surging life force within.

The Preludes are the latest pieces, dating from 1940, and are sublimely romantic (without ever crossing the line into excessive fever) and melancholy. You can still hear the traces of flamenco, but there�s an added layer of heat, languor and sparkling eroticism, as well as an appreciation of the still note hanging in the air like a trace of perfume. Or sweat. The Etudes, from 1929, are somewhat stripped down and really are reminiscent of Satie, both in their leanness and their affected detachment. One aspect of the compositions that takes shape in these performances is that, despite what is clearly extraordinarily difficult writing for guitar, the listener is only conscious of the music, never of the technique. The final pieces, all variations on what Villa-Lobos called choros (variations on popular songs, waltzes and other dances typically played by cello and guitar in the street), are the earliest, from 1912. There�s a certain stateliness to them, presumably emblematic of a time when �street music� was less aggressive than now. But the same warmth and passion that would bubble up in later years can be heard in nascent form, biding its time, betrayed by a whiff or two.

This is an entirely lovely album, a must-have for lovers or Brazilian music, aficionados of 20th century classical guitar or simply for anyone who wants to hear drop-dead gorgeous music.