Danzón

The Turtle Island String Quartet has always been known for stretching stylistic and instrumental limits. Despite several personnel changes, its adventurous spirit of exploration is intact, and the baritone violin, that extraordinary hybrid instrument introduced by Darol Anger, is now being played by David Balakrishnan. The program on this disc has a Latin American orientation, with influences of Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, and the Caribbean, as well as African rhythms and American jazz. The pieces are all written or arranged by members of the group; their guest, the virtuoso clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, contributes two compositions.

The playing is splendid. When string players make their instruments sound like saxophones, guitars, slap-basses, drums, and castanets, string quartet fans tend to get a bit uneasy, but these musicians can also sound like a real string quartet capable of producing a mellow, beautiful tone as well as every imaginable color effect, like ponticello, pizzicato, and barriolage. Moreover, the conversational give-and-take between them is in the best chamber music tradition. The slow pieces have a lilting, songful lyricism; the fast ones jump, dance, and run around brilliantly. To a classically oriented listener, the least convincing numbers are those based on classical pieces, like "Girl from Pathetique," frankly inspired by Tchaikovsky, and "Schizo Grosso," supposedly inspired by Beethoven. "A Night in Tunisia" is a showpiece for the clarinetist and he plays it to the hilt. --Edith Eisler