CHAVEZ, C.: String Quartets Nos. 1-3 / Invencion II (Cuarteto Latinoamericano) (Carlos Chavez)

Chronique

The long-awaited publication of the four string quartets of Carlos Chávez may lead eventually to recordings of the complete set, but this 2006 Urtext disc by the Cuarteto LatinoAmericano of Nos. 1-3 (along with two short pieces, Hommage a Goddard, Columbia and Invention II), provides enough evidence of these works' essential qualities and significance in the genre to form an early judgment. Not especially daring in technique or style but composed securely in the tonal modernist idiom, these three quartets are competent exercises, with less of a Mexican folk character than might be expected and more of a European flavor. The String Quartet No. 1 and the early movements of the String Quartet No. 2 owe their aesthetics to Debussy and Stravinsky, who were strong influences on Chávez at the times they were composed. However, Bartók's influence is apparent in the rhythmic Moderato from the String Quartet No. 2, and periodically through the String Quartet No. 3. Yet Chávez seems not to have been caught up in the experimentation with string sonorities that Bartók inspired and that dominated chamber music in the 1950s and '60s, and instead relied almost entirely on conventional methods. Indeed, one gets a feeling through this program that Chávez played it safe in his chamber music and chose to imitate accepted models rather than find new directions. So this body of music fails to impress like other major string quartets of the twentieth century -- Schoenberg's, Bartók's, Shostakovich's, and Carter's -- and may be deemed academic work: solid in technique, cogent in form, but lacking originality, inspiration, and emotional depth. Even so, this album should be heard, if only to satisfy curiosity about this overlooked oeuvre and to better understand one of Mexico's most important composers. Urtext's sound is generally fine, except for some uneven volume levels in the recording of the String Quartet No. 2.
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