Argentinian-American Contemporary composer Gustavo Leone [born 1956] has written at least five string quartets, together with several other named works for the genre.

The First Quartet is in two movements, with the second movement containing a significant presence of a female soprano, Beatriz Elena Martinez.

The first movement, marked dramatico, doesn’t really attain much drama until near the end. A sense of tension opens the work, with long cello and violin tones. Out of this arises a solo violin melody, which then joins with the cello in harmony, creating an effect that is rather striking. A return to the opening mood this time introduces further voices to the sound, and there are some poignant, overlapping string lines to be heard – I like it already. I’d have to say that the mood is sustained for some time, drifting between the introductory cello musings and the sound of strong harmonised melodies, with both moods being somewhat melancholy. Now a tempo is established for the first time, and we do have a sense of the dramatic as the violins create an assault on the music. The tempo disappears and the violins ache as they crisscross with the cello. This moving section ends with a sustained chord

The final movement, named ‘chant de mort‘, which is Spanish for Death Song, again opens in a lamenting manner with a strong cello line almost groaning. The soprano voice soon enters and as the music unfolds, seamlessly becomes a part of the ensemble, as an instrument, if you prefer. The writing is similar in style to the previous movement, perhaps with less intensity. In fact, some of the ensemble lines border on the rhapsodic. When the soprano is silent, the harmonised lines are very precious. Now a two-note cello motif gives the music some impetus as the violins drift in and around the voice, which has its own lamenting quality. This is not a virtuoso performance, but a very musical one. The cello again signals a change in direction and the soprano leads the ensemble while changing the timbre of her voice, revealing a somewhat masculine quality, which doesn’t persist as the voice reaches into the upper range. A pause in the vocal leads to some wonderful writing for the quartet. The return is very shrill, almost majestic. Now for a moment, the soprano speaks a solo recitation, which I am presuming is in Spanish. A small section for the strings concludes the work.

Another interesting work on the CD is Una voz, un grito, un lamento, in Spanish ‘A voice, a scream, a lament’. This eight minute work does not contain any vocals but is a suspenseful, at times harsh experience. Opening with a droning cello, a deeply moving melody creates great tension – there are also numerous glissandi which contribute to a rather bleak mood. The music is strongly modal, anchored by the cello. Now a pause allows a tempo to be established and I hear sounds of a death march. The emotional intensity is very powerful. An extended pause gives way to harmonised lines, stretched tight and the timbre is raw. The cello throbs, allowing the violins to weave strangely harmonised lines to move forward. A new melodic pattern emerges and the cello supports it with great vigour to the extent of following the violins as they push the tempo into a frenzy. A pause brings a new modal section with sustained chords, in a state of suspension as one violin probes with great control, and great emotion. A brief glissando sweep and one lonely violin tone, lead to an unexpected ending. This is a serious, gritty piece of music.

The review CD, String Quartets, performed by the Cuarteto Q-Arte on the Toccata Classics label, is not particularly available on the Amazon sites but can be obtained from Presto Classical, and the Toccata Classics website.

This disc is on Spotify, earsense and YouTube. If you wish to hear Una voz, un grito, un lamento on YouTube, it can be found here, along with some other incidental music from the CD.

Listenability: Wonderful music with an underlying sense of intensity. Non-confronting.