Various Composers - Mi Alma Mexicana (Alondra de la Parra)

Information

CD1:

1. José Pablo Moncayo - Huapango
2. Gustavo Campa - Melodía for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 1
3. Ricardo Castro - Intermezzo de 'Atzimba'
4. Candelario Huízar - Imágenes
5. Manuel Ponce - Concierto del Sur: I. Allegretto
6. Manuel Ponce - Concierto del Sur: II. Andante
7. Manuel Ponce - Concierto del Sur: III. Allegro moderato e festivo
8. Juventino Rosas - Sobre las olas

CD2:

1. Arturo Márquez - Danzón No. 2
2. Silvestre Revueltas - Sensemayá
3. Carlos Chávez - El trópico (from H.P. Suite)
4. Federico Ibarra - Sinfonía No. 2 'Las antesalas del sueño'
5. Eugenio Toussaint - Concerto for Improvised Piano and Orchestra: II. Largo
6. Mario Lavista - Clepsydra
7. Enrico Chapela - Ínguesu

Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas
Alondra de la Parra, conductor

Date: 2010
Label: Sony Classical

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Review

Latin American music from a charismatic young conductor

I can’t imagine how heartily hacked off Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra must be with the inevitable, although often lazy, comparisons between her work and Gustavo Dudamel’s; but charismatic, attractive young conductor fashions local talent into a mighty orchestral force-of-nature to perform Latin American music? You can see from where the comparison derives.

But “My Mexican Soul” – Parra and her Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas’ debut recording – is recommendable on its own terms. An animated, feral account of Silvestre Revueltas’ cult Sensemayá (Mexican music’s equivalent Rite of Spring moment) stands out, but Federico Ibarra’s Sinfonia No 2 Las antesalas del sueño (1993) is wired into that same “wild man” Mexican new wave. Parra moves the piece from spiky introductory violence towards a momentum-driven dénouement forcefully and meticulously.

Other pieces register as more of an indulgence. The Largo from Eugenio Toussaint’s jazz-based Concierto para piano improvisado y orquesta doesn’t add up to much more than boffin-enhanced muzak; Gustavo Campa’s violin and orchestra Mélodie and Ponce’s Concierto del Sur para guitarra y orquestra are essentially European classical forms (Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mozart) spoken with a Mexican inflection; interesting enough, but short on reward over the long haul. To make sure you’re still listening, though, the set ends with Inguesu by Enrico Chapela, born in 1974 and the youngest composer represented here. Based on a famous Mexico vs Brazil football match (guess who won?), a Ligeti-like cloud of micropolyphony dissolves into Ivesian disjoints and overlays.

Which makes me think a light music record has crashed into a something weightier. So a game of two halves, but you won’t feel robbed.

-- Philip Clark, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Nov10/mexicana_88697755552.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/s/sny77555a.php
https://www.allmusic.com/album/mi-alma-mexicana-my-mexican-soul-mw0002011147
https://www.amazon.com/Mi-Alma-Mexicana-Mexican-Soul/dp/B003T8BWRK

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Alondra de la Parra (born October 31, 1980 in New York City) is a Mexican American conductor. She studied composition at the Centre of Research and Musical Studies in Mexico City, and piano and conducting at the Manhattan School of Music. De la Parra found the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in 2003 and released two commercial recordings with the orchestra. In June 2011, the POA suspended operations because of financial difficulties. She is the current Music Director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (since 2017), the first female principal conductor of an Australian symphony orchestra.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alondra_de_la_Parra
https://alondradelaparra.com/en/

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