Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940)

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I've been revisiting a good bit of Revueltas's music lately and am still greatly in awe of the originality of the music. It's so rough around the edges, highly rhythmic, and it's as if he's taken some mariachi music and put it in a blender, threw in some Bartok Miraculous Mandarin viciousness and served it over a hot plate of refried Stravinsky Rite of Spring. Such incredible music.

[lescamil]

I can just picture Revueltas stumbling out of a bar in Mexico yelling "Tequila! ¡Necesito más tequila!" and then passing out next to a horse. Who knows this may be the inspiration for Janitizo which he composed in 1933, then he realized in 1936 that he couldn't make heads or tails out of this score so he revised it.

I've been revisiting a good bit of Revueltas's music lately and am still greatly in awe of the originality of the music. It's so rough around the edges, highly rhythmic, and it's as if he's taken some mariachi music and put it in a blender, threw in some Bartok Miraculous Mandarin viciousness and served it over a hot plate of refried Stravinsky Rite of Spring. Such incredible music.

Haha, great descriptions. When I listen to his music, I can hear all of these things. It all makes total, clear sense in the end, though, at least to me. Some people have difficulty with his music, but I think his intentions are always clear.

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Haha, great descriptions. When I listen to his music, I can hear all of these things. It all makes total, clear sense in the end, though, at least to me. Some people have difficulty with his music, but I think his intentions are always clear.

I guess I can understand why some people would have difficulty with the music too. It always presents itself in such an abstract way, but yet, it is the rhythms that hold the works together and make them accessible. The only works by Revueltas that I haven't been able to stomach are his string quartets. Highly, highly dissonant works that I can't even begin to wrap my head around. Have you heard these?

[lescamil]

Nope, haven't heard them yet. I haven't heard anything about them, either. That will be a project of mine soon, I guess.

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Nope, haven't heard them yet. I haven't heard anything about them, either. That will be a project of mine soon, I guess.

Well, I guess you're in for a bit of shock when you hear them. Usually, Revueltas has some kind of lyricism in the music, but these SQs are just out there in left-field somewhere.

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The interesting thing about this recording is it contains liner notes written by the composer himself. There's not anything of value in the notes as they don't really pertain to the string quartets, but it's an interesting read to say the least.

[snyprrr]

Well, I guess you're in for a bit of shock when you hear them. Usually, Revueltas has some kind of lyricism in the music, but these SQs are just out there in left-field somewhere.

[asin]B000000R3M[/asin]

The interesting thing about this recording is it contains liner notes written by the composer himself. There's not anything of value in the notes as they don't really pertain to the string quartets, but it's an interesting read to say the least.

They are very scrappy little hairballs aren't they? One practically hears the lead snapping under the Drunken Master's overjoyed enthusiasm.

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They are very scrappy little hairballs aren't they? One practically hears the lead snapping under the Drunken Master's overjoyed enthusiasm.

They really are. I still don't know what to make of them.

[snyprrr]

They really are. I still don't know what to make of them.

They may be some of the 'earthiest' SQs out there,... ah, enough bloviating, it's right here in front of me anyhow,... let's take 'em for a spin (hey, the whole cd is what, 39mins.?,haha).

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Finally, this thread has two pages. Now if I can only get it up to 40 like the Brian thread.

This thread, I'm afraid, will never catch up to the Havergal Brian thread now. For shame...

[lescamil]

Shame that Revueltas didn't write any massive works like Brian's Gothic Symphony and other gargantuan works like that. It would be great if La Noche de los Mayas were a 2 hour choral symphony!

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Shame that Revueltas didn't write any massive works like Brian's Gothic Symphony and other gargantuan works like that. It would be great if La Noche de los Mayas were a 2 hour choral symphony!

I think Revueltas's output is just fine and I'm glad he never wrote any massive works like that. I wish he had lived long enough to complete the orchestration to La Coronela. La Noche de los Mayas is as close to a symphony as he got and I'm glad he never pursued the symphonic form. I do wish he composed a concerto of some kind like for violin since he was a violinist himself. That would have been interesting.

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I've been revisiting a good bit of Revueltas's music lately and am still greatly in awe of the originality of the music. It's so rough around the edges, highly rhythmic, and it's as if he's taken some mariachi music and put it in a blender, threw in some Bartok Miraculous Mandarin viciousness and served it over a hot plate of refried Stravinsky Rite of Spring. Such incredible music.

I still love this description I wrote. Makes me laugh. Anyway, what do you guys think about Salonen's recording of Revueltas? I don't think it quite matches Mata's performances, but is good alternative. Certainly better than Batiz's performances.

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Can't this ol' dirty Mexican drunk get some support? I mean WTF, GMG?

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A nice website with some great information regarding Revueltas:

http://www.peermusicclassical.com/composer/composerdetail.cfm?detail=revueltas

[Daverz]

Can't this ol' dirty Mexican drunk get some support? I mean WTF, GMG?

When you sober up, you should delete this post.

[lescamil]

When you sober up, you should delete this post.

Well, I don't know. I'm of Mexican descent and I found it quite funny. Lighten up a bit.

[Daverz]

Well, I don't know. I'm of Mexican descent and I found it quite funny. Lighten up a bit.

Right, "dirty Mexican" is always fucking hilarious.

[snyprrr]

Right, "dirty Mexican" is always fucking hilarious.

Well, we live in such times. People are getting offended every day. I was offended until I got offended by your offence. I've seen that that's the way it works: once someone becomes offended by someone's offence, people will naturally be offended by the offended party. And to say he was anything but a "drunk messican" is just wrong and offensive because I hate it when people say "dirty mexican", and I would never say "dirty mexican" to anyone, and I forbid anyone to say "dirty mexican" around me because if you call one person a "dirty mexican" then you're calling all of us a "dirty mexican".

La Migra!

[snyprrr]

STOP TYPING MONDAYS!

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When you sober up, you should delete this post.

When pigs fly...