Silvestre Revueltas - Chamber Works (Ebony Band Amsterdam)

Information

Composer: Silvestre Revueltas

• Sensemayá
• Ocho por radio
• Planos
• Caminando
• Este era un Rey
• Hora de Junio (Revueltas/Limantour)
• El Renacuajo paseador
• Pieza para doce instrumentos
• Preludio y Fuga rítmicos (J. Pomar)
• Homenaje a Federico García Lorca

Juan Carlos Tajes, reciter

Ebony Band Amsterdam

Werner Herbers, conductor

Date: 2004

Label: Channel

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Review

here have been several important collections of the music of Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) released during the past decade, most notably the one issued by Sony and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. But his strikingly original music - the finest to come out of Mexico so far - remains very much a minority interest. Why he has been neglected for so long is hard to understand, because Revueltas's finest works - many of them included on this latest issue, which consists of recordings made at a public concert in Holland in November last year - have musical charm, humour and an originality that ranks him among the leading composers from the Americas in the period between the two world wars.

This collection is described as a survey of his "chamberworks", but the term is applied quite loosely, and some of Revueltas's authentic chamber pieces, such as the string quartets, are not included at all. His best known work, Sensemayá, is played in the original 1937 version for 15 instruments rather than the later one for full orchestra. The smaller-scale scoring only emphasises its vivid musical fusion of the raw-edged sound of Mexican mariachi bands and the modernism of Varèse and Stravinsky. Masterpieces such as Ocho por Radio (1933) and the three-movement Homenaje a Federico García Lorca (1936) are here too, all of them played with just the right rhythmic energy and awareness of instrumental colour.

— Andrew Clements

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Silvestre Revueltas (31 December 1899 – 5 October 1940) was a Mexican composer, violinist, and teacher. He studied violin and composition in Mexico City, Texas and Chicago, and was assistant conductor of the Mexico Symphony Orchestra from 1929 to 1935. Revueltas is celebrated for his vividly orchestrated music which marked by strong rhythmic energy. His music evokes Mexican folk traditions without directly quoting folk songs. His most notable works include symphonic poems such as Sensemayá (1938), as well as chamber music, songs and influential film scores, such as Redes and La noche de los Mayas.

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The Ebony Band, founded in 1990 by Werner Herbers, former principal oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, is an ensemble drawn largely from that orchestra. It specializes in adventurous modern music, particularly from the early 20th century. The ensemble explored music suppressed during the Weimar Republic, works connected to the Spanish Civil War, and other composers such as Silvestre Revueltas. The Ebony Band also performed jazz-influenced repertoire as the Ebony Big Band. The ensemble ceased their regular concert activity after 17 years of international performances.

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