Villanesca is the second of John Woolrich’s series of string quartets he has entitled A Book of Inventions. The quartet was written for The Benyounes Quartet and first performed by them at the Barber Institute, Birmingham on October the 5th 2018. Like the other quartets in the series, Villanesca is a relatively short, one movement work (about 13 minutes) - but there is nothing slight or insubstantial about Villanesca; whilst describing the piece as being in one movement might be misleading. This is because the piece comprises fragments which Woolrich juxtaposes; it is the disorienting effect of the sudden changes of the piece that Woolrich seeks to achieve - which is not to say the work lacks coherence. Just as the quartets in the series are like the parts of a jigsaw gradually being pieced together to reveal a whole, the same logic applies to each quartet. Despite perhaps the composer’s conscious intentions, a holism emerges so that each quartet has a distinctive character despite their deliberately fragmentary nature. A Villanesca is a rustic dance; although the rusticity exhibited by the Villanescas within the canon – for example, those for guitar by Granados and Emili Pujol – is of a genteel elegance that is a long way from any rugged, rural realism. It will not be surprising that Woolrich’s Villanesca is of a different hue – not that there are no Iberian shadows. There is a dancing cello, picking out a tango; and throughout the piece, triplets provide a bounce to every musical idea; whilst the presiding spirit of the work might be associated westwards on the peninsula with Fado and a sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia. But this is certainly not the whole story: there is also passion here; flares of anger; even noblimente moments. The dominant voice of the piece though is the yearning, haunting material that the first violin opens the quartet with, and which goes on to permeate the piece. Woolrich has often said of his concertos that he does not see them as a contest between the orchestra and the soloist but rather that they both deliver the piece’s purpose together in concert. Interestingly, the same intention is evident in this quartet. The voices are never in competition – indeed, they can all contribute to the delivery of a melodic line and - in what is another Woolrich hallmark - they can play in unison. (Why is it that any ensemble suddenly playing in unison is so intensely affecting, as it is here?). And although they can be doing quite different things, they remain enjoined. They are always making the piece together. The quartet ends – as is typical in Woolrich’s music – without any resolution or definitive statement but with the return of the yearning music and a pause, a suggestive murmur, a wondering … The question that any string quartet raises, but perhaps especially one written today, is whether there is something inherent in the music of the piece that could only be authentically expressed via the string quartet format. In other words, could the piece be arranged for piano or another ensemble without loss or distortion of the essential purpose of the music? It is an indication of Woolrich’s current embrace of the string quartet format that it is difficult to conceive Villanesca (or indeed any of the other quartets that have so far appeared in the series) having the same expression or impact in other instrumental arrangements. Above all else, then, this is inherently string quartet music - which makes A Book of Inventions such a significant project.

— Andrew Ward on Villanesca