Search - Chavez, La Camerata & Tambuco, Mata :: Xochipilli / Suite for Double Quartet

A good program

Richard Zencker | Scottsdale, AZ USA | 05/08/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I would disagree that the program is too varied. This is a bit like an hour-long radio program devoted to the chamber music of Chavez; you wouldn't want it to all be the same. I atually like having the Suite juxtaposed in this way against the other works that are admittedly different in character. The opening work is indeed an "imagined" music and a comparison with anything might seem jarring. The percussion is well recorded, though much of it is delicate rather than powerful. I had thought that Eduardo Mata was a student of Chavez at one time, but can't find any evidence of that after a brief Web search. But this was one of Mata's valedictory albums, and it does make one miss him. Recommended for fans of Latin-American music, or devotees of percussion that can tolerate the other instrumental combinations here."