Villa-Lobos: SQ 12 and 13

 

Now that Villa-Lobos has finally found a musical voice to live with in his later quartets, I am looking for inspiration.

I am not sure if I am going to find it. I waded through the twelve symphonies and the five piano concertos, but the composer's works seemed to tread water rather than pave forward.

Not that this is bad, per se. Villa-Lobos uses a mix of modernism and lush harmonies, which leads me to preferring some portions over others in his music, rather than its entirety. In the end, I am not enamored by this music, but it is an enjoyable listen all the same.

In String Quartet no. 12, the skipping motive is its focus, while the following movement, marked malinconio, is of a sentimental quality. I tend to like Villa-Lobos' way with a Scherzo, with only a few exceptions, and this one is full of personality, both edgy and perky in turns, perhaps with a few more darker turns than I expected. The finale is a little understated, if not trenchant, making the whole quartet a slightly melancholic one overall.

Another chromatically creepy canon opens String Quartet no. 13, a hallmark from the composer in his set of seventeen quartets. I knew Villa-Lobos liked imitatively polyphonic textures, but there really is an abundant supply of these sorts of openings and sections across his string quartets. Luckily, he doesn't stick with that material and usually moves on to contrastingly brighter pastures, only to occasionally bring back those musical ideas later. They are effective structurally, yet hardly do they satisfy me as a listener.

The syncopated opening Scherzo promises another light and lively scurrying movement to follow, with a subsequent songful, lyrical episode afterwards. Villa-Lobos is great at accompaniment figures, giving real personality to his slow movements, and beautifully supporting the soloists. Villa-Lobos sends off the quartet in fine fashion, if not completely satisfying.

Again, I am feeling a formula which Villa-Lobos composes to. A bit of angularity, a bit of sensuousness, a little wit, some dashing, Brazilian rhythms - throw it in a pot and you have Villa-Lobos and his absolute music. Enjoyable, but not lovable for this listener. Hopefully, he shakes it up for his final four quartets.

Works
String Quartet 12 (22.26)
String Quartet 13 (21.09)

Performers
Cuarteto Latinoamericano
    Saúl Bitrán, violin
    Arón Bitrán, violin
    Javier Montiel, viola
    Alvaro Bitrán, cello

Label: Dorian
Year: 1995-2000; 2009

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