Camargo Guarnieri, Sonata and Sonatinas (review)

Little scholarship has been conducted on the piano sonatinas and sonata of Camargo Guarnieri, and they are only barely known in the performance community, especially among U.S. pianists. Rosangela Yazbec Sebba's compilation is an important milestone in the dissemination of Guarnieri's music and an efficient way to gain introduction to the composer's pianistic output.

It is doubtful that one could take in this recording and not want to pursue further Guarnieri's piano compositions. He composed as an intimate interpreter of this instrument, fluently communicating musical ideas. Each of the eight sonatinas and single sonata is an appealing work. Written from 1928 to 1982, they provide a map of Guarnieri's ever-evolving compositional process. In fact, this two-disc set offers a cross-section of Guarnieri's musical style, as the pieces boast elements that define his methods across genres: counterpoint and texture contrasts; clarity of form; and, integration of tonal and modal pitch collections and of vibrant folk and dance rhythms that reveal his nationalistic preoccupation.

Sebba, Associate Professor of Music at Mississippi State University, studied piano in Brazil with Belkiss Spencieri Carneiro de Mendonça, who in 2000 wrote a seminal essay surveying all of Guarnieri's pianistic output (Silva 2001: 401-422). Each sonatina is a substantial three-movement composition, a testament to Guarnieri's affinity for formal logic (Guarnieri said, "I create and coordinate at the same time"); still, Guarnieri deliberately used the label "sonatina," citing limitations in dimension as one reason he did not label them all "sonata." Each middle movement reflects the same lyricism, sensuous and static, that permeates his art songs, and Guarnieri finished each sonatina with a rondo, fugue (complete with advanced contrapuntal techniques like augmentation and stretto), or scherzo.

Guarnieri's sonatinas and sonata require much of the pianist, and Sebba artfully exploits elements that link the pieces: stark linear lines made lyrical via carefully crafted counterpoint; modal and tonal scales in combination to create a signature dissonance and rich melodic and harmonic palette; striking rhythmic angularity through shifting meters and unexpected accents; and, formal transparency, where musical materials are structured in clear sequence to manage player and listener expectation.

Sonatina No. 1 (1928) is an excellent case study for understanding how instinctively Sebba approaches Guarnieri's music. The piece opens with a descending melody situated over a linear ostinato, and it is marked "molengamente" (this piece is typically considered Guarnieri's first definitive success and initiated the composer's penchant for nationalistic movement titles and expression markings). Sebba handles just as convincingly the many unexpected textural and expressive changes as she does the rousing dotted rhythms. The second movement is a beautiful modinha (I hear reminiscence of Impossivel carinho in certain descending left-hand figures); via contrary motion in a call-and-response dialogue, Sebba develops each melodic phrase at the appropriate time, as the melody shifts between left and right hands. The third movement features an insistent, syncopated rhythmic pattern shared between hands, which Sebba revels in while also doing justice to the more sustained open fifths and repeated-note melodic formulae (similar to the opening movement of Sonatina No. 3, which boasts repeated notes in dynamic conversation).

In Sonatina No. 2, movement 1, Sebba's right-hand touch is detached, almost percussive, for the repeated notes countered with a weightier left-hand legato. In movement 2, Sebba showcases the descending left-hand melody, validating Guarnieri's desire to allow that foundational voice to "sing" in contrary motion to the right-hand figure. Rich chromaticism makes palpable the melancholy mood, and repetition aids a player (and listener) where no tonal center anchors the linear counterpoint. In the rondo of movement 3, Sebba demonstrates her versatility: attacks are exceptionally clean. The left-hand ostinato is fantastic and later, Sebba relishes the rousing block chords. The trills on F-natural (just ahead of last full statement of the refrain) lose some potency in the sustain that should have been a clear formal...