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Site review by Castor December 24, 2004
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
This is a most enterprising and worthwhile SACD of the Chamber works of Revueltas, much of whose music is hardly known.
'Sensemaya' is familiar in the full orchestral version from recordings by, for example, Stokowski and Bernstein, but here it is presented in an earlier version for fifteen instruments. In this very clear and vivid live recording it makes as much impact as with a large orchestra with incisive, tangible percussion very present. The other pieces on the disc are equally fascinating and colourful, particularly 'El renacuajo paseador' (the wandering tadpole!) and 'Caminado', while 'Pieza para doce instrumentos' inhabits the same sound world as Stravinsky’s pieces for small orchestra, albeit with a Mexican flavour.
'Hora de Junio' is the one piece in the whole collection that I personally did not care for much. A ‘reciter’ declaims three poems over the music and it also features a couple of coughs from an otherwise totally silent audience!
Channel Classics quite close-miked sound for the whole disc is certainly state-of-the-art, with every instrument clearly placed in the sound stage, yet it has a pleasing ambience throughout provided by the acoustic of the Tilburg Concert Hall.
The Ebony Band, Amsterdam, is obviously a group of thirty, or so, excellent musicians who really bring this music to life and I can’t imagine the performances nor the recordings being bettered.
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Copyright © 2004 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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Review by leroyad December 31, 2004 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics: |
Most reviews of Silvestre Revueltas’ music try to describe it by calling him a Mexican Stravinsky, a Mexican Prokofieff, a Mexican Bartók, or a Mexican Ives. Alternatively, he might be called a Mexican Villa-Lobos or a Mexican Piazzolla in terms of blending formal European classical training with their countries’ best-known Latin music.
Having just listened to this superb Channel Classics SACD in 5.0 (this label never include a subwoofer channel), I think there is some truth in every one of the comparisons. With that said, everything here is fresh and original, with emotions closer to the surface than any other 20th Century music I have ever heard. (How could it not be so? Revueltas did drink himself to death at age 40.) I personally would place this lesser-known composer with the best of the more familiar ones above. However, if hearing the other names recalls unpleasant musical experiences because of the dissonant and disjoint quality of their works, be aware that you will find the same traits in many of Revueltas’ compositions, although with far more humor.
I found the live performance on this SACD to be utterly perfect. Furthermore, for the first time ever listening to any recording, I was repeatedly startled by the lifelike quality of the sound, particularly the horns, xylophone, and grand piano, which often seemed to have magically appeared in my living room. Highest recommendation.
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Review by nickc December 27, 2004 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics: |
I must admit that I had never heard of Silvestre Revueltas, but, seeing it was Channel Classics I thought I would give it a go. Of course, being Channel Classics I wasn't disappointed but it may not be everyone's cup of tea. As Castor rightly noted the disc sounds likes a Mexicanesque Stravinsky. Some pieces are more tuneful and accessible than others though there is always a level of dissonance that may either cleanse your palette or leave a bitter aftertaste, depending on your tolerance to it. Right from the opening track about a snake slithering through the jungle you can almost feel the hypnotic effect of the heat and the music!
The sound of course is absolutely first class. Though it is a live performance you would have no idea until the applause after the final track. Horns (especially the tuba)sound like they are coming from about five feet behind your front speakers in the corner of your room! One of my favourite things about Channel Classics (and I found the same in the Mercury Firebird) is that they put you up close the musicians almost allowing you to feel the instruments as well as hear them. For the adventurous among you.
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