Mexican Classical Music

[BobsterLobster]

I'm definitely not new to Classical Music, but I am completely new to Mexican Classical Music.
The little I've heard has been surprisingly fantastic, as there is pretty much zero exposure of Mexican music in Europe.
So please let me know what you consider to be your essential and favourite CDs of La Música Clásica Mexicana!

Also, please post your favourite Mexican musicians- not necessarily playing Mexican music.

[jowcol]

I'm definitely not new to Classical Music, but I am completely new to Mexican Classical Music.
The little I've heard has been surprisingly fantastic, as there is pretty much zero exposure of Mexican music in Europe.
So please let me know what you consider to be your essential and favourite CDs of La Música Clásica Mexicana!

Also, please post your favourite Mexican musicians- not necessarily playing Mexican music.

See if I can beat Mirror Image to this one.  I'll go for Mexican composers.


If you like something a bit edgy, it's hard not to love the "Mexican Stravinsky", Revueltas.

http://www.youtube.com/v/IZO2VkKKR7o


If you want something more lyrical, but still a lot of rhythmic vitality, I'm a big fan of Danzon #2 by Marquez.   

http://www.youtube.com/v/3vwZAkfLKK8

[pjme]

Maybe, with a little bit of luck, you can stil find it : a Brilliant Cd box : 8 cd's with music by Chavez, Ponce, Revueltas Blas Galindo etc.
Excellent performances with different orchestras ( Royal Phil.,Mexico state, Mexico Phil. etc, henryk Szeryng in the Ponce violinconc. etc)
Not all music is top drawer, but for the price... well worth seeking out.
Peter

[Mirror Image]

Damn, jowcol beat me.

Anyway, two Mexican composers come to my mind immediately: Revueltas and Chavez, but I'm also thinking of lesser-known ones too like Ponce, Moncayo, Marquez, and Jimenez.

I would most definitely check out Revueltas and Chavez. These are, in my opinion, two of the most outstanding Mexican composers of all-time. Both of these composers gave national identity to their country. Chavez actually quoted many native folk melodies in his works like in his Sinfonia India, which uses a massive percussion section and is very rhythmically driven. It's a very joyful work too. Makes me feel good each time I hear it. Revueltas, on the other hand, didn't use Mexican folksongs, but many of his ideas sound folkish. Sometimes Revueltas makes music that sounds like mariachi music blended with a Stravinskian complexity and a Bartokian rhythmic edginess. There's a lot of music discover between Chavez and Revueltas.

It's always a good thing to hear someone interested in Latin American music, because I think, so often, this area of the world is overlooked.

Here are a few of my favorite Mexican classical recordings that you may want to look into:

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This is downright essential set for Revueltas fans I think and for the price it's going for it's hard to pass it up.

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I think this is essential recording because it contains Revueltas' last work, which had to be completed, La Coronela.

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A very cheap box set that contains several works by Revueltas and one Chavez rarity: the ballet Horse Power Suite. It also contains the best version I've heard of Chavez's Sinfonia India.

I do not recommend the Musica Mexicana box set for the simple fact that the performances are less than ideal. Batiz is only an average conductor. He doesn't have the authority of Eduardo Mata. Not only that, but this particular box set is rare. I bought it several years ago, but I haven't listened to that much of it. It is an important set for Chavez's music, which many of the works can't be found anywhere else.

[some guy]

One of my favorite composers is Mexican.

Julio Estrada. His solo album of chamber music for strings (with the Arditti, who else?) is unfortunately both very hard to get and very good music.

And, speaking of Arditti, they've done a Mexican album, with music by Ivan Naranjo, Hilda Paredes, German Romero, Rogelio Sosa, Hebert Vazquez, and Juan Felipe Waller. Hilda has a nice solo album, too.

And of course, there continue to be young composers coming out of Mexico. One that I particularly like is Marisol Jimenez, who has a real stunner of a piece on an Innova disc, 541(Vol.3) Music from Stanford.

Perhaps Conlon Nancarrow can count? Born in Texarkana but a Mexican citizen for the last forty-two years of his life.

[Lethevich]

Is anyone familiar with Mario Lavista? I read a review of a disc of his SQs comparing them to Ligeti, but I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing - the  review itself didn't see fit to mention whether they were a derivative or original take on that style.

[vandermolen]

I like Chavez - in paricular the craggy Symphony 4 which, oddly enough, reminds me of Havergal Brian.

[mc ukrneal]

Here is a wonderfu piano music disc. Some really good stuff...
[asin]B000BLI3UC[/asin]

[BobsterLobster]

Many thanks for the suggestions... I'm already 2 CDs into this box set:

which I've been enjoying a lot.

Right now I'm listening to

[asin]B000BLI3UC[/asin]

very pleasant Lisztian salon music, like a lot of Mexican piano music I've listened to.

I'll make sure I check out all the rest of the recommendations,although I do prefer the Romantic end of the spectrum rather than Stravinsky/ Bartok which some Mexican music reminds me of.

[Mirror Image]

I'll make sure I check out all the rest of the recommendations,although I do prefer the Romantic end of the spectrum rather than Stravinsky/ Bartok which some Mexican music reminds me of.

Then, in my opinion, you're missing out on two of the greatest Mexican composers that ever lived: Revueltas and Chavez.

[BobsterLobster]

Then, in my opinion, you're missing out on two of the greatest Mexican composers that ever lived: Revueltas and Chavez.

Don't worry, I'm keeping an open mind!

[DieNacht]

Among the lesser known Chavez works are
-  his "Piano Concerto", a monumental, dizzying work. There is a great old Westminster recording, the composer conducting and Eugene List playing piano.
- the "Horsepower Suite", recorded, among others, by the Louisville Orchestra and Jorge Mester.
Chavez also recorded 3 of his own symphonies in fine stereo, very engaged playing, issued by everest.

I enjoy the very varied and well-played Brilliant CD box as well.

[some guy]

By the way, Lobster, Julio Estrada is very well known in Europe. In fact, Europe is the only place I've heard his music live.

Hilda Paredes lives in London.

The Arditti quartet, who has recorded Estrada and Paredes (and several other Mexican composers), is a (broadly speaking) European string quartet.

I would suspect that there is much more Mexican music performed in Europe than there is in North America. And that Mexican composers are much better known there.

[Mirror Image]

Among the lesser known Chavez works are
- the "Horsepower Suite", recorded, among others, by the Louisville Orchestra and Jorge Mester.

Hmmm...this seems like an odd recommendation, not for the music itself, but because Eduardo Mata has conducted this work to much higher acclaim than Mester and the Louisville Orchestra. Mata has the amazing Simon Bolivar Symphony Orch. of Venezuela as his disposal as well and not to mention the fantastic sonics from Dorian.

[DieNacht]

Hmmm...this seems like an odd recommendation, not for the music itself, but because Eduardo Mata has conducted this work to much higher acclaim than Mester and the Louisville Orchestra. Mata has the amazing Simon Bolivar Symphony Orch. of Venezuela as his disposal as well and not to mention the fantastic sonics from Dorian.

I have both. Mester is stereo (as opposed to some other of the Louisville releases), and I found the playing more lively than Mata. But one can do well with Mata too, which is probably easier to get as well.

[Mirror Image]

I have both. Mester is stereo (as opposed to some other of the Louisville releases), and I found the playing more lively than Mata. But one can do well with Mata too, which is probably easier to get as well.

You're getting me in the mood to listen to Horsepower Suite. I probably need to revisit the Mester performance and, yes, I do recall it being a lively performance but I remember the tempi being a little too fast, but I suppose this is what gives this interpretation that special energy. Yes, it's quite difficult to track down the Mester performance, which appears only as a download on Amazon. The Mata is more attainable, but the original recording titled Latin American Ballets may be difficult to get, but this has been reissued in a box set called Latin America Alive which features all of Mata's Latin performances on Dorian.

[Roy Bland]

Classical label
https://redmayor.wordpress.com/discos/

[pjme]

https://www.youtube.com/v/zRjT_Lvha5k

Miguel Bernal Jimenez' Organ concertino "Retablo medieval". Light & melodious!

Here is a fine live performance: https://youtu.be/fAQlSaAIbtA

Orquesta Juvenil Universitaria Eduardo Mata de la UNAM
Iván López Reynoso, director huésped; Víctor Manuel Morales, órgano

[vandermolen]

+1 for this very enjoyable box set:

[Roy Bland]

https://www.sacm.org.mx/