RAMÓN BARCE – Early Quartets

Spanish Modern Contemporary composer Ramón Barce Benito [1928–2008] wrote eleven string quartets. He was so taken with the works of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern that he wrote a comprehensive treatise on Schoenberg’s music. His style of composition has been described as abstract expressionism and his early string quartets were apparently influenced by Webern’s development of Schoenberg’s serial technique.

The First Quartet, written in 1958, is in three movements and opens with a sense of lilting abstraction. Atonal melodies are put forward but never reappear, nor are they developed. This is a characteristic of the serial nature of the composition. There appears to be no sense of structure – just a dialogue between the four players. A pizzicato cello supports the entropic melodies. The feeling changes for a time as the cello becomes more prominent and the texture is lighter. The end is almost perfunctory.

The next movement is definitely more structured. A very slow introduction features long violin tones leading to long melodies and a mysterious mood is developed as the cello underpins the violins. Some glissandos are heard as the music drifts along, almost aimlessly. Nearing the end, a sparseness develops and subdued violins fade the movement out.

Quivering violins announce the final movement, which meanders until a brief pause occurs. The music which follows contains strangely harmonised melodic lines – the abstraction is palpable. Now an insistent cello goes solo and a violin picks up its melody in a fugue-like manner; a small concession to tonal music. Another pause introduces many glissandos with a pizzicato viola. This doesn’t last and we have a change into a brief atonal flurry. The conclusion is a falling away of the instruments until there is nothing left.

By the time of the Second Quartet, written in 1965 and in two movements, Barce had developed his own take on serialism. The work commences with long, sustained violin tones – these are very sparse, with frequent pauses. Some dissonant harmony can be heard. A solo cello passage leads back into the opening mood with quiet sustained tones. The solo cello reappears and a violin spars with it. This leads to an extended passage of atonal interjections where entropy plays a significant role as the music becomes very disjointed; this is reminiscent of Elliott Carter’s work although, not so rhythmically diverse. Another pause leads into several long notes from different instruments, interspersed with a throbbing cello. The attack from the violins is quite severe. Suddenly the work is energised and is quite random in nature before it ends sharply.

The final movement, which is very short, features a Feldman-like opening with harmonised long tones. Slowly a rhythmic feeling evolves, however the music is still serial. A repeated violin tone allows for the other instruments to interject as they edge towards an evanescent conclusion.

This is classic serial music. I have heard this described as ‘intellectual music’, but I don’t regard it as such. Having listened to the complete set of eleven quartets, I find them very emotionally expressive, albeit not in a conservative, tonal manner. They have their own distinctive sound world, one in which I have been dipping into for many years.

The review CD, titled Barce –String Quartets by the Cuarteto Leonor, is a 3-CD set containing all eleven works. It is available on Amazon US and UK.

The 3-CD set is also on Spotify and all quartets can be found on YouTube and earsense.

Listenability: Fine, thoughtful, non-confronting abstract works.