Search - Jose Pablo Moncayo Garcia, Alfredo Carrasco, Jose Maria Chavez :: México Sinfonico

May we have more just like this, please?

abigmusicfan | Seattle, WA USA | 04/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This remarkable CD appears to have been produced, recorded and manufactured entirely in Mexico. I gather from the excellent notes (the English translation is particularly endearing) that these works, Huapango excepted, would be largely unfamiliar even to a Mexican audience, so I'll try to make them a little more familiar. If you're worried that you'll be subjected to the kind of caustic nationalism you find in Revueltas and Chavez, don't; everyone here is having a good time.If you've never heard Huapango before, allow me the pleasure of introducing you. It is without a doubt the most red-blooded, fun-loving piece of music I have heard. Think of Enescu's Romanian Rhapsodies but with Mexican themes, scored with the genius of Rimsky-Korsakov, with instrumentation ranging from delicate clarinet and harp to rousing, screaming brass and thundering percussion. I don't think Chicago or LSO brass can play like that.The Symphonic Prelude by Carrasco has the same elegiac nobility you might find in Sibelius's Andante Festivo, and is very touchingly played. The La Huerfanita overture reminds me very much of Auber or Herold, very elegantly classical. Marquez's Danzon No. 4 sounds a little like Villa-Lobos, with lyrical instrumental solos over an infectious rhythmic line.Castro's delicious Minuet for strings, written in a deliberately archaic style, deserves to be played everywhere, but it's hard to imagine a more sensitive, nostalgic performance than this. Galindo's Poema de Neruda is a string orchestra transcription of one of his sad songs, and has the same kind of searching introspection you might hear in Grieg's string pieces.The Sinfonietta by Moncayo sounds like a more authentic version of Copland's Salon Mexico. "Encounters" by Zyman closes the program, and despite a certain cinematic quality (not a bad thing) and a good-for-you title still manages to be very engaging. It has a great tune as its theme, and Mr. Zyman is not one to waste it.The recording itself reminds me of a modern version of Mercury's Living Presence without the hiss - in other words, brilliant, immediate, and better than I dared to expect. My only complaint (not worth a star, though) is that the smaller-scale pieces are recorded at a higher level to compensate, which means that I have to turn the volume down a little when I get to them.In summary, this is a superbly engineered, programmed, played, and packaged CD. Don't hesitate to get it. And please, let's have more!"

Mexican Gold

J. Luis Juarez Echenique | Mexico City | 06/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This excellent survey of Mexican orchestral music fills an important gap in the Classical Music catalogue. The program goes from a typical XIX Century Italianate overture in the Donizetti style to the contemporary and magnificently crafted Samuel Zyman piece which closes the program. If you have never heard Jose Pablo Moncayo's irresistible Huapango you are in for a treat, this tuneful orchestral dance should be as popular as the William Tell overture. The top notch Mexican orchestra is worldclass and the recorded sound is exemplary."

Excelent option

J. Luis Juarez Echenique | 07/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Being a Mexican, I hadn't had the chance to listen to most of this wonderful pieces, however it was a great opportunity to listen to music that could be easily confused with that written by a composer in Italy, France or Germany easily; but its feel of the new world allows us to realize what we are really listening to.
I greatly recomend buying this for yourself or as a gift, it will provide great music and it also includes the information on the composers, their times, and the meaning of each piece. Don't imagine that this is the sound of Mariachis, this is great mexican classic music from different historic periods."