Silvestre Revueltas - Chamber Works (Werner Herbers & Ebony Band Amsterdam)

Information

Composer: Silvestre Revueltas

• (01) Sensemayá
• (02) Ocho por radio
• (03) Planos
• (04) Caminando
• (05) Este era un Rey
• (06) Hora de Junio (Revueltas/Limantour)
• (07) El Renacuajo paseador
• (08) Pieza para doce instrumentos
• (12) Preludio y Fuga rítmicos (J. Pomar)
• (13) Homenaje a Federico García Lorca

Ebony Band Amsterdam
Werner Herbers, conductor

Date: 2004
Label: Channel Classics
https://www.channelclassics.com/catalogue/21104-Homenaje-a-Revueltas/

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Review

Spectacularly recorded chamber works by Mexico’s master of the grotesque

Revueltas recordings – those of the orchestral Sensemayá aside – have a tendency not to linger in the catalogue, a bizarre fact given his music’s basic rhythmic and instrumental appeal. One such is the RCA Catalyst disc (nla) that encapsulates his highly coloured soundworld, ‘The Night of the Mayas’.

The sheer verve and power of his music leads one to think of Revueltas as a primarily orchestral composer, but many of his works are written for relatively modest forces (or started out that way, like Sensemayá, given a spirited performance here). Often, it is the ferocity of his sound – and liberal use of percussion – that gives the music a bigger texture than its actual layout might suggest. Even so relatively modest a piece as the playful octet Ocho x Radio (1933) feels like a small orchestral score. Curiously, the early Pieza para doce instrumentos (1929; left untitled by Revueltas) seems much smaller in scale despite being longer. The four move- ments chart a gentle course in increasing tempi from Lento to Allegro. Here the burlesque and grotesque strains in Revueltas’s musical psyche were yet to be allowed full rein, but in El renacuajo paseador (‘The Wandering Tadpole’, 1933), with its quotations and teasing allusions, they were audibly unleashed. The tiny suite describes how a tadpole meets an untimely end after going out for a drink with a mouse, the moral of which did not deter the composer from terminal alcoholism. Caminando (1937) is a real find.

One of the final projects Revueltas worked on was Luis Córdova’s ‘caustic satire on fascism’, Este era un Rey (‘Once there was a King’, 1940). The Preludio y Fuga ritmicos by Revueltas’s close friend José Pomar completes a splendid disc – derived from concert performances – that deserves every success. Highly recommended.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/oct/01/classicalmusicandopera.shopping4
https://www.amazon.com/Homenaje-Revueltas-Ebony-Band/dp/B00061X9AG

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Silvestre Revueltas (December 31, 1899 – October 5, 1940) was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor. Born in Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango, he studied at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and the Chicago College of Music. Revueltas wrote film music, chamber music, songs, and a number of other works. His best-known works are the suite from his film score La Noche de los Mayas and the orchestral work Sensemayá. Revueltas died in Mexico City of pneumonia (complicated by his alcoholism), at the age of 40.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvestre_Revueltas

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Werner Herbers was principal oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for 35 years. In 1990 Herbers founded the Ebony Band, with its core is made up of musicians from the RCO. The ensemble specializes in modern, adventurous music primarily from the first half of the 20th century. Special attention is focused on the forgotten music of lesser known composers, deemed to be worthy of revival. The extended Ebony Big Band also played and recorded jazz influenced music. Many of the ensembles recordings have been awarded prizes: Edisons, Gramophone’s Editors Choice, Diapason d’Or.
http://www.ebonyband.nl/

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