Heitor Villa-Lobos' String Quartet No. 10 continues the preoccupations of the composer's previous two works, and generally operates in a similar style. It also continues Villa-Lobos' apparent "one quartet a year" policy, an ambitious program, considering his many other works written in these years. This very fecundity may explain the redundancy some feel upon hearing the Tenth; after the new ground broken by the Eighth, with its wobbling chromaticism and exacting economy, and the atonal extremes and angularity of the Ninth, Villa-Lobos' next quartet can sound unflatteringly moderate. And in certain ways, it is a less-"original" piece: its basic materials can be interpreted as leftovers from the string trio the composer also wrote around the same time; perhaps his "policy" was becoming more demanding than his invention. But innovation is not the main attraction of Villa-Lobos' quartet-oeuvre; rather, its magnetism arises from its inimitable sound-world, full of a cool, well-constructed optimism in both the technical and expressive senses. And in this, the Tenth does not disappoint: it is as sharp as any Villa-Lobos score in its weaving together of contrasts, its formal tributaries, its sunlit affections, and the characteristic ease of its unfolding. In particular, Villa-Lobos had, by this time, honed a specific ability to fuse melody and accompaniment with tremendous deftness. Many times over in this score, the main theme is coupled with a catchy ostinato and this concoction freely fragments itself around the ensemble, allowing for a game of dialogue. Combined with the suave, often chromatic, slipperiness of the harmony, this penchant allows Villa-Lobos to have fun with the structure of the movements; they flit and freewheel, sounding less like sonic architecture than enthusiastically distracted conversation. This mixing-up occasionally allows for some more unusual qualities. In particular, the quartet's slow movement really digs into difficult harmonic terrain; as Arnaldo Estrella, a scholar of Villa-Lobos' quartets, observed, this is music quite self-consciously distanced from the serestiero and mondinha of the composer's earlier, more folkloric allusions. Rather, it suggests—not without a wink of parody—the more overwrought melos of the Second Viennese School, whose presence undoubtedly informs the Eighth, and especially the Ninth, quartets. That being said, Villa-Lobos can be depended upon to exploit such missing links later, as when he quotes a folkish motive from the earlier score Amazonas. Soon, however, the composer was re-thinking his quartet aesthetic: the Eleventh quartet begins a new "late phase."

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