Rosangela Sebba

Eight sonatinas and sonata by M. Camargo Guarnieri (2 CDs)

Abstract:
Although the sonatinas and sonata for piano are unknown in the pianistic repertoire, they belong to a large period of time in the composer’s life, from 1928 to 1982. During these fifty-four years, we see a gradual change in his compositional language, where consonances give way to dissonances, even with a hint of atonality. Although the melodies are angular and complex, they are melodious and pleasant, always with a driving rhythmic power. Almost always, the tonality is of a modal nature, a reference to the folkloric melodies from the northeast of Brazil. Considered a neoclassic composer, Guarnieri constantly uses the sonata-form, binary, ternary and fugues in the first and last movements. Though, it is in his second movements where he expresses his inner feelings with the “modinhas,” melodies based on his childhood remembrances of simple songs accompanied by the guitar. Although Guarnieri avoided the use of quotations, his second theme from the first movement of Sonatina No. 3 is one of three works where he took the melody from the northeast of Brazil. To unify the movements within his works Guarnieri repeats rhythmic elements and melodic intervals with a constant meter, a way to break the metric rigorousnes.

Citation:
Sebba, R.Y. (2010). Eight sonatinas and sonata by M. Camargo Guarnieri. Fundacao Casa Brasil de Cultura and MSU.