String Quartet No. 2 is the one of a series of seventeen works in the medium by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, and was written in 1915. A performance lasts approximately twenty minutes.
History
Villa-Lobos composed his Second Quartet in 1915, either in Rio de Janeiro or Nova Friburgo. It was first performed on 3 February 1917 by a quartet consisting of Judith Barcellos and Dagmar Noronha Gitahy, violins, Orlando Frederico, viola, and Alfredo Gomes, cello. The published score bears the indication "Op. 56".
Analysis
As in the all of Villa-Lobos's quartets except the first, there are four movements:
Allegro non troppo
Scherzo: Allegro
Andante
Allegro deciso – Presto – Prestissimo final
One writer, however, regards the Prestissimo final as a separate, fifth movement. This early quartet in Villa-Lobos's catalogue is composed according to the cyclic principles developed by César Franck and Vincent d'Indy. Franck and Debussy were two of the most important influences on Villa-Lobos's early style, and he had studied d'Indy's 1912 textbook, Cours de Composition Musicale. The composer describes the scherzo as a novelty, played in harmonics, "whose harmonies involve a syncopated melody in a context that suggests small bamboo rustic flutes ".
Discography
In order of date of recordings:
Villa-Lobos: Quatuors a Cordes Nos. 1–2–3. Quatuor Bessler-Reis. Recorded at Studios Master in Rio de Janeiro, July 1988 and September – December 1989. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Le Chant du Monde LDC 278 1052. : , 1991.
*Also issued as part of Villa-Lobos: Os 17 quartetos de cordas / The 17String Quartets. Quarteto Bessler-Reis and Quarteto Amazônia. CD recording, 6 sound discs: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Kuarup Discos KCX-1001. Rio de Janeiro: Kuarup Discos, 1996.
Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartets Nos. 2 and 7. Danubius Quartet. Recorded at the Rottenbiller Street Studio in Budapest, 12–16 November 1992. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 12 cm, stereo. Marco Polo 8.223394. A co-production with Records International. Germany: HH International, Ltd., 1994.
*Reissued as part of Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Complete String Quartets. 6 CDs + 1 DVD with a performance of Quartet No. 1 and interview with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano. Dorian Sono Luminus. DSL-90904. Winchester, VA: Sono Luminus, 2009.
