Villa-Lobox: All String Quartets

Heitor Villa-Lobos once admitted that he loved writing string quartets, declaring: “One could say it is a mania.” His 17 quartets form the core of his chamber music and span a long period of composition marked by his national consciousness and musical inventiveness. These spontaneous, often daring quartets, which frequently draw on the musical folklore of Brazil, encompass both rigorous polyphony and exuberant joie de vivre and virtuosity. They are among the most distinctive and successful chamber music works of the 20th century.