From the enormous compositional output of Villa-Looos, only a handful of pieces are regularly performed in the United States. And while he is well known as a composer for guitar, Villa-Lobos' many works for piano, though of very high quality, are largely unknown outside Brazil. A major cause of this ignorance and neglect stems from the vicissitudes of the publishing business: his European publishers are poorly distributed in the US, while his Brazilian publishers' scores are next to impossible to obtain here.

The Cirandas are a case in point: while they are generally considered Villa-Lobos' finest compositions for piano, the fact that they were copyrighted by a Brazilian publishing house long made them unobtainable for all practical purposes outside Brazil. Approximately fifteen years ago, a small American publisher (Masters Music) obtained rights and made them available here. It is likely that, as performances of the cycle becotne more common, the Cirandas will be recognized among the masterpieces of solo piano literature.