Mixed Feelings
David Silver | 09/19/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I was excited to learn of this project to record the complete chamber music of Chavez, but this first release by Southwest Chamber Music leaves me with mixed feelings. "Invention I for Piano", "Invention III for Harp", and "Upingos for Oboe" are very persuasively presented, with Gayle Blankenburg's brilliant and insightful performance of the forbidding "Invention I" being itself worth the price of the CD. Curiously, the CD's booklet does not offer us any biographical information on these three excellent solo artists. The remaining two ensemble works paled by comparison, particularly in the areas of color and rhythmic vitality. The overall professional level of this recording does, however, make it well worth adding to one's Latin American music library."