Minguet Quartet: Ginastera, Ravel

The Strad Issue: March 2026

Description: A compelling entente cordiale between Argentina and France

Musicians: Minguet Quartet, Michael Korstick (piano)

Works: Ginastera: String Quartet No. 1; Piano Quintet. Ravel: String Quartet

Catalogue number: CPO 555 633–2 

Named after the 18th-century Spanish philosopher Pablo Minguet and soon to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the Minguet Quartet is no stranger to newer music, having recorded the complete quartets of Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann. So it’s little surprise that the two works of Alberto Ginastera recorded here sound fresh and vital.

The First String Quartet was written in 1948, at the start of the Argentine composer’s second stylistic period (the references to traditional Argentine music now being more blended into a European expression than previously).

Rather than go for maximum edge in the chugging, aggressive-bluesy first movement, the emphasis is on a more rounded, ‘human’ approach. Likewise, the third movement takes on a plaintive, nocturnal tone.

The Vivacissimo scherzo before it is replete with deftly delivered glassy, metallic colourings with its sul ponticello and col legno effects.

From 15 years later, the seven-movement Piano Quintet is more overtly modernistic, the first movement screaming with Expressionistic alarm. The three cadenza movements – for viola and cello, two violins and piano respectively – display impressive individual talents, while the strange beauty of the ‘Piccola musica notturna’ is captivating.

In between comes a very persuasive account of Ravel’s String Quartet, the first movement flowing naturally, the pizzicato second movement prickly precise and the doleful slow movement another nocturnal fantasy, all topped off by a vigorous finale.

EDWARD BHESANIA