Carlos Chavez

Started by Chaszz, February 28, 2008, 05:25:57 PM

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Chaszz

I just heard on the radio an excellent Symphony No. 6 by the modern Mexican composer Carlos Chavez. This is the first work I've heard by him and is worth further exploration, IMO. Can anyone recommend other works of his?
_________________

violinconcerto

Definitely his violin concerto! A masterwork!
There are two recordings as far as I know: One on LP with Szeryng and one with Diemecke on CD. Unfortunately only the Szeryng recording is good...

pjme

Hi,
I've never heard that violinconcerto....

Anyway, Chavez is worth investigating . His most famous work is Symphonia India ( nr 2) - many good performances. Leonard Bernstein +NYPO ( on Latin american fiesta...) is an all time favorite. It's a short ,very colorful work (lots of percussion) , evocative, exiting rythms.
I'm definitely not a Chavez connaisseur - seem to remember that other symfonies ( and ballets?) are less "jolly".
The pianoconcerto is a big, Bartokian/exprssionistic romp ( should give it a spin later tonighth). It was briefly available :

with Eugene List, p; Vienna State Opera Orch/ Carlos Chávez. MCA MCD 80086 (36' )

Other works:
Caballos de vapor (Horsepower): Suite - Simon Bolivar Sym Orch of Venezuela/Eduardo Mata. Dorian DOR-90211
Xochipilli, an imagined Aztec music - La Camerata; Tambuco/ Eduardo Mata. Dorian DOR-90215

I enjoy two percussion works by Chavez : Toccata and Tambucco ( haven't researched recent performances - Les percussion de STrasbourg had them in their repertoire).

The symfonies are available in a good set : the London SO / Eduardo Mata / VOX . As far as I remember, Chavez went through several stylistic periods . He's an important personality anyway. He put musical Mexico on the map ( ca 1940-1960), invited many musicians to compose and perform.





Revueltas' Sensemaya and Fernandez' Batuque (when do we get the whole thing!!!) are irresistible !

Peter

gomro

Quote from: chaszz on February 28, 2008, 05:25:57 PM
I just heard on the radio an excellent Symphony No. 6 by the modern Mexican composer Carlos Chavez. This is the first work I've heard by him and is worth further exploration, IMO. Can anyone recommend other works of his?
_________________


He wrote an incredible piano concerto that was beautifully recorded on RCA back in the days of vinyl, with Maria Teresa Rodriguez as pianist with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Eduardo Mata; it has never been released on CD, for some reason. His three movement Toccata for Percussion is fantastic. Seeing it performed in concert back in the 1970s was an unforgettable experience, and one that led me into classical music. Probably his most famous orchestral works are the Sinfonia de Antigona and Sinfonia India, the first based on Greek musical modes and the second built from actual Native American themes.  An LP of his ballets The Four Suns and Pyramide was a favorite of mine many years ago, but my copy has long since gone south and, like the piano concerto, the ballets were never given a CD release.

violinconcerto

Quote from: gomro on February 29, 2008, 06:13:58 PM
He wrote an incredible piano concerto that was beautifully recorded on RCA back in the days of vinyl, with Maria Teresa Rodriguez as pianist with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Eduardo Mata; it has never been released on CD, for some reason. 

Thats not correct!
It was released on the following CD along with the violin concerto:



http://www.amazon.com/Carlos-Ch%C3%A1vez-Concierto-Violin-Piano/dp/B00006LA2O

vandermolen

I really like his music. I especially recommend this CD:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ch%C3%A1vez-Symphonies-Nos-4-Carlos/dp/B00000IYND/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204413289&sr=1-18


His music has a kind of craggy grandeur which reminds me of Havergal Brian. Both the orchestral and chamber music is worth investigation.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

The new erato

Quote from: vandermolen on March 01, 2008, 02:17:15 PM
I really like his music. I especially recommend this CD:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ch%C3%A1vez-Symphonies-Nos-4-Carlos/dp/B00000IYND/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204413289&sr=1-18


His music has a kind of craggy grandeur which reminds me of Havergal Brian. Both the orchestral and chamber music is worth investigation.
Isn't this the recordings that have been reissued in Brilliants box of Mexican music?

Does anybody know the recording of his string quartets by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano on the Urtext label?

vandermolen

Quote from: erato on March 02, 2008, 12:34:33 AM
Isn't this the recordings that have been reissued in Brilliants box of Mexican music?




Not too sure. The only box I have is the Vox Box with all the symphonies (a great buy). The ASV CD was a Chavez Centenary issue.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Chaszz

Thank you all for your recommendations.

Chaszz

Quote from: violinconcerto on March 01, 2008, 12:48:50 AM
Thats not correct!
It was released on the following CD along with the violin concerto:



http://www.amazon.com/Carlos-Ch%C3%A1vez-Concierto-Violin-Piano/dp/B00006LA2O

Would you recommend the two interpretations on this CD, violinconcerto?
Thanks.

violinconcerto

Quote from: chaszz on March 02, 2008, 07:26:38 AM
Would you recommend the two interpretations on this CD, violinconcerto?
Thanks.

I never listened to the piano concerto. Neither in this interpretation nor in any other.
But I can say that the performance of the violin concerto in this recording is worse than the recording with Szeryng. And due to the fact that the LP with the Szeryng recording come up on ebay very often, I would recommend to wait for the LP.

sound67

Quote from: erato on March 02, 2008, 12:34:33 AM
Isn't this the recordings that have been reissued in Brilliants box of Mexican music?

Yes, it is.
"Vivaldi didn't compose 500 concertos. He composed the same concerto 500 times" - Igor Stravinsky

"Mozart is a menace to musical progress, a relic of rituals that were losing relevance in his own time and are meaningless to ours." - Norman Lebrecht

gomro

Quote from: violinconcerto on March 01, 2008, 12:48:50 AM
Thats not correct!
It was released on the following CD along with the violin concerto:



http://www.amazon.com/Carlos-Ch%C3%A1vez-Concierto-Violin-Piano/dp/B00006LA2O

Is it the performance with Mata and Rodriguez, previously released on RCA Red Seal vinyl?

MahlerSnob

A few years ago I conducted one of his choral works, Three Nocturnes. It was a very beautiful, but very short, piece and it hadn't been done in Boston for about 30 years. I don't know his other works too well, but if you can find a recording of the Nocturnes (and if one exists) they're worth checking out.

violinconcerto

Quote from: gomro on March 02, 2008, 10:50:06 AM
Is it the performance with Mata and Rodriguez, previously released on RCA Red Seal vinyl?

No! Check out the amazon link and you can see Osorio as piano soloist and Diemecke as conductor.