Chapí: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4 Cuarteto Latinoamericano

• Ruperto Chapí (1851 - 1909): String Quartet No. 3 in D Major:
• 1 Chapí: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major: I. Grave - Allegro assai 11:16
• 2 Chapí: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major: II. Intermezzo. Allegro moderato 04:47
• 3 Chapí: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major: III. Larghetto 07:48
• 4 Chapí: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major: IV. Finale. Allegro vivace 09:45
• 5 Chapí: String Quartet No. 4 in B Minor: I. Allegro moderato 09:06
• 6 Chapí: String Quartet No. 4 in B Minor: II. Allegretto 06:42
• 7 Chapí: String Quartet No. 4 in B Minor: III. Allegretto animato 06:58
• 8 Chapí: String Quartet No. 4 in B Minor: IV. Allegro vivo 16:43
• Total Runtime 01:13:05

Info for Chapí: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4

“Spanish Composer Ruperto Chapí was born in 1851 in Villena, Alicante province, where he began his musical studies at an early age. Showing an exceptional talent, he moved to Madrid at the age of sixteen, continuing his studies at the capital’s Conservatorio under the tutelage of Emilio Arrieta. After stints in Rome and Paris (where he met Saint-Saëns), he came back to Spain in 1880, where he began his affiliation with the world of zarzuela (Spanish lyric opera), eventually becoming one of the major exponents of this genre in the history of Spanish music. It is with his zarzuela La Tempestad (1882) that he achieves his first national success. Many more would follow during his lifetime, with over a hundred lyric works, including the one that made Chapí a household name in Spain, La Revoltosa (1897).

Towards the end of his life, however, Chapí became interested in chamber music, and beginning in 1903 he undertakes the composition of his four String Quartets, works that constitute one of the most important legacies of the Spanish post-romantic era.

Once he finished his quartets, Chapí went back to lyric music composition, finishing what would be his last opera, Margarita la Tornera at the beginning of 1909. In March of that same year, Ruperto Chapí died of a heart attack.

Cuarteto Latinoamericano, is one of the world’s most renowned classical music ensembles, for forty years the leading proponent of Latin American music for string quartet. Founded in Mexico in 1982, the Cuarteto has toured extensively throughout Europe, North and South America, Israel, China, Japan, and New Zealand. They have premiered more than a hundred works written for them and they continue to introduce new and neglected composers to the genre. Winners of the 2012 and 2016 Latin Grammys for Best Classical Recordings, they have been recognized with the Mexican Music Critics Association Award and three times received Chamber Music America/ASCAP’s “Most Adventurous Programming” Award.” (Saúl Bitran)

Cuarteto Latinoamericano

Cuarteto Latinoamericano
formed in 1982, is known worldwide as the leading proponent of Latin American music for string quartet. This award-winning ensemble from Mexico consists of the three Bitrán brothers, violinists Saúl and Arón and cellist Alvaro , along with violist Javier Montiel. The Cuarteto has recorded most of the Latin American repertoire for string quartet, and the sixth volume of their Villa-Lobos 17 quartets cycle, recorded for Dorian, was nominated for a Grammy award in 2002 in the field of Best Chamber Music Recording as well as for a Latin Grammy.

The Cuarteto has performed as soloist with many orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, with the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, the Dallas Symphony and the Símón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela. The Cuarteto has toured extensively around the world including performances in Europe and the Americas, as well as in New Zealand and Israel; they have appeared in a wide range of venues and festivals like the Concertgebouw, the Kennedy Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Dartington International Summer School and the Ojai Festival. They have collaborated with many artists including cellist Janos Starker, pianists Santiago Rodriguez, Cyprien Katsaris and Rudolph Buchbinder, tenor Ramon Vargas, and guitarists Narciso Yepes, Sharon Isbin, David Tanenbaum and Manuel Barrueco. With Mr. Barrueco, they have played in some of the most important venues of the USA and Europe, have recorded two cds, and commissioned guitar quintets from American composers Miguel del Aguila, Michael Daugherty and Gabriela Lena Frank.

The Cuarteto was in residence at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh from 1988 until 2008.

Under the auspices of the Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles of Venezuela, the Cuarteto has created the Latin American Academy for String Quartets, based in Caracas, which will serve as a training ground for five select young string quartets from the Sistema. The Cuarteto visits the Academy four times a year.

The Cuarteto has been awarded for the third consecutive time the México en Escena grant given by the Mexican government through FONCA (National Fund for Culture and the Arts) for the 2009/2011 period. The project revolves around the Bicentennial Celebrations of the Mexican independence and features Mexican music for string quartet from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Booklet for Chapí: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4