Madrigal for Viola and Piano -Carlos Chávez

  Press play before reading!

Carlos Chávez (1899-1978) was a Mexican pianist, conductor, composer, and music teacher. As a composer he received most of his training from Manuel M. Ponce; he was director of the National Conservatory of Music and in 1928 he organized what would become the National Symphony Orchestra, and he would be its director until 1944. In 1946 he founded the National Institute of Fine Arts, of which he was appointed its general director, from there he strengthened the National Conservatory, organized concerts, and commissioned works from his disciples and collaborators. His works include different endowments, from solo piano, chamber music, vocal work, and symphonies, which have been performed and recorded by various orchestras around the world.

    Madrigal is an original work for cello and piano, Carlos Prieto in his book The Adventures of a Cello mentions "Anita (daughter of the composer) sent me another unknown manuscript of her father, a Madrigal for cello and piano, a youth work composed in 1921 which I premiered with pianist Doris Stevenson in 1988 ".

 

    Although it is not an original work for viola, transcription has been made, and a recording, we can mention the one made by Omar Hernández-Hidalgo within his album "La viola Espiral". It is a small lyrical work that begins in a slow 4/4, the piano begins only two measures with a minor chord to give way to the viola that introduces the theme using portatos in the phrase, this bow technique will be present in many parts of the piece; there are some slight changes of time signature that will take us to a section where the viola has double strings, starting a piú mosso (a little faster) giving a bit of tension to return to the initial tempo. Again the theme is presented in a shorter way to take us to the climax of the work to give way to the final section, the viola ends up making quarter notes with the same note and the piano ends in a descending chromatic way.

    Dr. Gustavo Martín comments on this work "the lyrical profile of the cello (viola in this version) occur in a sound environment -exposed by the piano- that repeatedly transits from the subtle to the dense, both in texture and in character. It is a compact work in duration, but consistent in expressive terms ".

    The recording we are listening to is by violist Santiago E. Osorio and pianist Hannah Sun, recorded in a live recital at The Penn State School of Music in 2015.

Thanks for reading and see you soon with more viola music by Mexican composers.

Luis Angel Chab Dzul

 Pareyon , G 2007 , Diccionario Enciclopédico de Música en Mexico , vol. 2 vols. , 2nd edn , Universidad Panamericana , Guadalajara, Mexico .

    Prieto, C. (2013). Las aventuras de un violoncello. Fondo de Cultura Económica.

 Martín, G. (2021, 8 abril). Madrigal, Carlos Chávez. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lHfZHXtO9c. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lHfZHXtO9c