MUSIC REVIEW : Armadillo Quartet in Brazilian Program at Northridge

Funding a concert sometimes demands an inventive hook if various monetary sources are to be enticed. Such an approach was evident Monday night in the Little Theatre of Cal State Northridge as several internationally-minded organizations including the Fulbright Commission sponsored a concert by three currently local composers who at one time resided in Brazil.

Utilizing the apt services of the Los Angeles-based Armadillo String Quartet--Barry Socher and Steven Scharf, violins, Raymond Tischer, viola, and Armen Ksajikian, cello--the program consisted of four works, each representing a markedly different stylistic approach.

The second quartet (1979) of Ricardo Tacuchian, a native Brazilian of Armenian descent, makes use of a variety of techniques, opening with a forceful, hypnotic tremolo section and moving deliberately through a variety of textures and sonorities. Glissandos, pizzicato and a striking use of a pulsating slow vibrato were all measured expressively throughout, providing an especially satisfying, eclectic style.

The foursome gave the work dedicated attention, competently exploring the many extended effects with mesmerizing agility. As a unit, they may occasionally suffer minor problems with synchronicity and intonation, but more often prevail upon the music with dutiful insight.

They also performed a less convincing three-movement quartet of 1962 by Tacuchian which at times charmed with its naivete, but lulled with its overall unadventurousness. Given the folk materials and jazzy Coplandesque tonal melodies, the student composition sounded surprisingly American, for a work intended as a nationalist statement by a Brazilian.

The String Quartet in Five Movements (1957) by Cuban-American composer Aurelio de la Vega--who taught in Brazil on a Fulbright grant--safely patterns its atonal style after the Viennese school, especially the work of Alban Berg. The skillful writing includes driving rhythms and a particularly lucid motivic development.

Completing the program was Stephen Hartke’s pleasant, though routine transcription of his own Four Madrigals (1982), based on Portuguese texts. Written in a neo-Renaissance choral style, the music transfered well to string quartet, though lacking a substantial display of virtuosity.