Saudade

"Nostalgia, longing, love and happiness: all are here, alongside that existential yearning so evocative of melting-pot Brazil ... Guitarist Plinio Fernandes offers a homage to his homeland that shows the porousness of its popular and classical genres in works and arrangements by some of Brazil's most celebrated composers. Central is Villa-Lobos, and his five Preludes (1940), now firmly embedded in the guitar repertoire, are given a lithe, richly vibrant performance. Yet equally important is composer-guitarist Sérgio Assad, creator of multihued arrangements of 'The Girl from Ipanema' and more alongside two of his own pieces ... Purveyors extraordinaire of everything from bittersweet romance to samba and bossa-inflected paeans to life: Fernandes is beguiling throughout".