Now Playing: CARLOS CHAVEZ?S COMPLETE CHAMBER MUSIC: Volume 4
Topic: NEW CDs
For Jeff von der Schmidt, Artistic Director of Southwest Chamber Music, recording the chamber music of Chavez is a labor of love. “Receiving four GRAMMY nominations, including two wins for the music of Carlos Chavez, brings international recognition to this important composer and stamps the passport of Southwest Chamber Music with a tremendous visa of excellence.”
Project History and Grammy Awards
Volume 3, recipient of two GRAMMY nominations including “Best Classical Album” of 2005, features an international collaboration between Southwest Chamber Music and GRAMMY-nominated Tambuco Percussion Ensemble from Mexico City for works for ensemble and percussion, which are paired with the complete works for voice and instruments, featuring Suzanna Guzman and Alba Quezada. Volume 1 and 2 of this series received 2003 and 2004 GRAMMY Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Volume 4 Repertory
The Complete Chamber Music of Carlos Chavez, Volume 4 includes the most complete span of Chavez’s work of the entire series, starting with the Sextet of 1919 and ending with the Feuille D’Album of 1974, Chavez’s last solo instrumental or chamber work. In addition to his cycle of three string quartets, we present his three sonatinas written for the Copland-Sessions Concerts in New York City in the 1920s, and the complete works for violin and piano, including works for Joseph Szigeti and the inaugural season of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Also included are the complete works for guitar, and two important incidental works, the Fuga H-A-G-C, dedicated to Goddard Lieberson, and the Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp, a charming arrangement of works by Debussy and de Falla.
Ana Chavez, the composer’s daughter, has graciously given Southwest Chamber Music permission to illustrate these performances and recordings of her father’s music with portraits of Chavez never seen outside of her family. There are two by Diego Rivera (from 1932 and 1946), and one each by David Alfaro Siqueiros (1947) and Rufino Tamayo (undated, but probably from the late 1960s to early 70s). The cover of Volume 4 is a drawing by Siqueiros. Mrs. Chavez has also provided Southwest Chamber Music with photographs of her father by legendary photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo.
About Southwest Chamber Music
Founded in 1987, Southwest Chamber Music (SCM) is the most active chamber music ensemble
in the Western United States, maintaining a full season of over 100 concerts, community and educational events throughout the year. Since its inception, the mission of SCM has been to provide the Southern California and international music community with concert, recording, and educational programming that reflects the vast diversity of art music from around the world. SCM’s events include concert series at Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum, Armory Center and Boston Court, and Los Angeles’ Colburn School of Performing Arts, plus a celebrated summer chamber music festival at The Huntington Library in San Marino. SCM’s website is http://www.swmusic.org.