Treasures in Mexico

revisited

It’s been almost two years since I reviewed music by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. If you’ve read it [Treasures in Mexico] and you’ve listened to his music you already know that enthusiasm for Silvestre’s talent is infectious. This next CD I had had on my wish list for, uhm, longer than, I dunno, probably since the last review. Finally ordered it. The musical selections are a mixed bag of full orchestra and small ensemble pieces—beautifully recorded in 20 bit digital. The performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group is spot-on—their energy and dynamism is loaded with Latin spirit. The music is pure Revueltas—imaginative interpretations of traditional folk music blended with vibrant splashes of modernism. Tonality and dissonance are deliciously swirled together with generous accents of percussion, blasts of brass and pacifying moments of wondrously etherial strings. But unlike the previously reviewed CD, every cut on this one is eminently and effortlessly listenable. There are no major challenges for those who are fearful of modern academic music. The musicians of the LA Philharmonic and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen are firing on all 8 cylinders turbocharged by Revueltas’ high octane compositions.

Music : A ║ Performance : A ║ Recording : A ║ Sensemaya, music of Silvestre Revueltas, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor, Sony Classical, 1999