The Mexican folk song Magueyes, which gives this quartet its name, is introduced at the very beginning, but Revueltas soon splinters its components and develops them freely. The composer splashes dissonance around with equal liberty, as each instrument in the quartet is often allowed to pursue its own course. Plaintive material provides frequent relief from the first movement's more agitated passages. In the second movement, also based on the song, jagged Molto vivace sections sandwich a cursory Lento that, uncharacteristically, allows the instruments to speak one at a time. The final movement launches with a four-voice fugue in 5/4 time and acidic harmony. Magueyes is also the name of a desert succulent, suggesting that Revueltas is determined to make his ten-minute quartet thrive even under adverse harmonic conditions.



© All Music Guide