Bacheando

There’s a story waiting to be told about Bach in Brazil. Bacheando, Plínio Fernandes’ second album, could stand as its compelling opening chapter. The guitarist presents a stylish snapshot of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music and the ways in which it has influenced generations of Brazilian composers. His exquisite programme, released in time for Latin Heritage Month (15 September to 15 October), is formed around Bach’s Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-Flat Major, BWV 998, originally composed for lute and now a fixture of the classical guitar repertoire. “It’s one of the most beautiful things ever written,” Fernandes tells Apple Music Classical. “I’ve known it my whole life. Although I was in awe of it for many years, I had to record it. I also wanted to show how Brazilian musicians have been inspired by Bach.” Bacheando opens with two Bachianinhas by Paulinho Nogueira, and includes the world premiere recording of Preludio Fuga e Vivace, specially written for Fernandes by guitarist and composer Sérgio Assad. It also contains the sublime “Adagio” from Bach’s Concerto in D Minor, BWV 974, and Assad’s arrangement of Mario Albanese’s witty Jequibach. “It was Sergio’s idea to include Jequibach, a piece I didn’t know. The jequibau is a type of bossa nova in 5/8 time, created by Albanese. He thought let’s write a jequibau in the style of Bach. This Jequibach is wonderful!” Bach’s counterpoint entered Brazil’s musical melting pot during the last century thanks to Heitor Villa-Lobos. “He’s one of the greatest figures in Brazilian culture, someone who redefined the popular aspects of Brazilian music and united them to the classical world, so to speak,” notes Fernandes. Villa-Lobos, he adds, loved the compositions of J.S. Bach above all others and paid homage to the great German with his nine Bachianas Brasileiras (1930-45). The guitarist decided to close his album with the “Prelúdio” from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4, a work he describes as emblematic of Brazil. “Bach influenced Villa-Lobos just as Villa-Lobos influenced those who came after him. He took Bach’s musical style and mixed it with the Brazilian flavour of his music. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 is another piece that’s been with me all my life.” Nogueira, whose influences extended from Bach to bossa nova, took Villa-Lobos’ Bach-infused compositions as the inspiration for his Bachianinhas (“Little Bachianas”). The first of them, says Fernandes, has found a place in the repertoire of every intermediate guitar student in Brazil. “It’s really part of the canon there. But funnily enough, I don’t think it’s ever been recorded by a major international label before.” Fernandes, raised in a family of musicians in São Paulo, made his debut recording, Saudade, soon after completing his studies at London’s Royal Academy of Music in 2020. Assad’s elegant arrangements contributed to its success and led to the composition of a Bach-inspired work for Bacheando. “The idea for it came from me,” notes Fernandes. “Sérgio first composed a prelude and fugue. I said, ‘Why don’t you write a faster movement so the piece can be a companion to the Bach?’ What he wrote is light, fun and also virtuosic in places. His piece emulates the essential beauty of Bach’s Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, because he has all the mastery to do so.”