|
Discography
 |
Silvestre Revueltas
- La Coronela (The Lady Colonel)
|
Neglected Revueltas Gets His Due
San Francisco Chronicle/San Francisco Examiner
Silvestre Revueltas has been called the Mexican Falla,
but in truth he is very much his own man. True, like
Falla in Spain, he absorbed the rhythms of his Hispanic
heritage and created sounds that carry logic and dance
to their own intricate beat. "La Coronela" was his last
work, a ballet that premiered at Mexico City's Palacio
de Bellas Artes in 1940 soon after the composer's death.
This first-ever recording of that score is a winner.
The dance episodes, based on a series of drawings of
skeleton figures by José Guadalupe Posada, create a
parade of musical postcards from a society about to
unravel: waltzes lead to intricate meters set against
each other, outrageous harmonies emerge between steps,
a military trumpet eerily calls all to order and a sweet
little dance tune returns as if unharmed.
The recording includes other pieces by Revueltas, each
worth a listen. And perhaps the biggest revelation here
is Gisèle Ben-Dor, a conductor whose passion and intensely
personal involvement with this music go a long way to
convince listeners not only of the delicious talents
of the Santa Barbara Symphony, but also of the immense
pleasures of the unjustly neglected Revueltas.
|
|
|
|
