Revueltas: Orchestral works; Aguascalientes. Mexico Symphony Orchestra conducted by Enrique Barrios – Naxos 8.555917 (67 minutes).
Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) was born in a small town in Mexico. As a child he showed great musical interest, and when his family moved to Mexico City, he entered the Conservatoire to study violin and composition. In 1917 he travelled to the US to study at St Edward College in San Antonio, Texas, and later in Chicago. After an extensive tour of the US and Mexico, he returned to his home country in 1929, where he remained till he died aged 41.
In 1929 Carlos Chavez offered him the post of assistant conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mexico, which he held until 1936. Together they worked indefatigably to promote Mexican music, offering a rich repertoire by some of the most prominent composers of the period.
Revueltas also composed many orchestral works, especially symphonic poems, which did much to put Mexican music on the international map.
This disc incorporates three of the composer’s most colourful and popular works. The 1938 Sensemaya describes an old ritual chant performed while killing a snake and all the magical spells that go with it.
The piece has a dark percussive element, but Revueltas counterbalances this with a sound painting of the surrounding landscape.
An important but rather overlooked aspect of Revueltas’s ouevre are the eight film scores he wrote between 1934 and 1940. La Noche des los Mayas (The Night of the Mayas) dates from 1939, and with its epic, social and artistic motifs, the score remains one of the composer’s most effective creations. The four-movement suite heard on this recording was arranged by Josè Yves de Limantour, a great admirer of the composer, who was, together with Eduardo Moncada, also responsible for the revival of La Coronela (The Girl Colonel), an unfinished ballet inspired by the Mexican Revolution.
Barrios and his forces generate excitement, and the music’s rhythmic splendour is quite captivating.
Hubay: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2; Scenes de la Csarda Nos. 3 and 4. Chloe Hanslip, violin, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Mogrelia – Naxos 8.572078 (71 minutes).
Born in the Hungarian city of Pest on September 15, 1858, Jeno Hubay was known as Eugen Huber in his childhood, changing it when was 21 to make it sound more Hungarian. Though of German extraction, Hubay was always considered Hungarian, and his life’s output is a tribute to the country’s musical heritage. His father Karl was a professor at the conservatory, and he also conducted the Hungarian National Theatre’s musical itinerary, so it is no wonder that the boy received his first lessons from him.
Hubay’s professional breakthrough came in 1872, when he made his debut as a violinist in one of Viotti’s concertos. The following year he went to Berlin to further his studies with the legendary Joseph Joachim. Highlights in his career are his performance of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata with Liszt and his friendship with Henri Vieuxtemps, whom he met in Paris.
When the latter suffered a stroke, it was Hubay who was entrusted to continue with his legacy and orchestrate his last violin concerto. It was also on Vieuxtemps’s recommendation that Hubay was appointed professor of the violin at the Brussels Conservatoire, a post which was to be the prelude to many other prestigious positions that came his way in his native Hungary.
By the time of his death in March 1937, Hubay was not only the greatest violinist of his age, but also a national icon who ranks in importance with Kodaly and Bartok. His music is a fusion of 19th century styles and the fullness of beauty of romanticism, and the four works in this recording are superb examples of his virtuosic imagination and professional showmanship.
Indeed, the whole programme has a spectacular singing quality that invigorates the listener with enthusiastic admiration.
Charismatic UK violinist Chloe Hanslip performs with breathtaking brilliance, bringing out all the gorgeous qualities of the concertos and the typical folk and dance-like elements of the Scenes. Mogrelia and the Bournemouth Symphony give sympathetic support.
A peach of a disc which one should snap up without hesitation.
Taneyev: Suite de Concert; John of Damascus cantata. Ilya Kaler, violin, Gnesin Academy Chorus and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Thomas Sanderling – Naxos 8.570527 (72 minutes).
Sergey Tanayev (1856-1915) is one of Russia’s most accomplished composers, but living during a period when this country produced some of the greatest composers of all time was somewhat of a handicap. Up to this day his music does not find itself readily in concert programmes. Well, this superb disc is proof enough that his music deserves much better.
The cantata John of Damascus was the first serious composition that drew attention to Tanayev’s talent. Dating from 1884, the piece was inspired by Aleksey Tolstoy’s poem which tells the story of St John Damascene, the last of the Greek Fathers who lived in the seventh and eighth centuries.
Tanayev was very self-critical, but he deemed the cantata good enough to warrant an opus number, in this case, No. 1. The piece is almost a choral masterpiece, and with its sublime music drawing on an ancient sacred chant and woven into rich passages of counterpoint, it leaves a stirring effect.
The Suite de Concert for violin and orchestra was written 25 years later. It is one of the very first Russian works in the genre, and at its premiere in October 1909 it was extremely well received, despite the fact that the musicians played from hand-written copies.
Stylistically varied, the work has colour and rhythmic vitality, and the soloist has ample opportunity to shine. At 46 minutes, it might seem a shade long, but with its scintillating tunes and masterful counterpoint it doesn’t outstay its presence.
Performances are heartwarming throughout, particularly in the suite, where Ilya Kaler surmounts all technical obstacles with ease and aplomb. Some really fine notes and excellent acoustics complete a splendid issue that should not be missed.
These CDs were made available for review by D’Amato Record Shop of 98/99, St John Street, Valletta.