Just in time for Día de Muertos, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is offering up two concerts that will showcase the work of Mexican composer/film composer Silvestre Revueltas.
Beginning tonight, the LA Phil is performing An Evening of Film & Music: From Mexico to Hollywood. The program, curated by John Williams and Gustavo Dudamel, features primarily Mexican composers in the first half. The lone exception is the Tribute to Mario Moreno (Cantiflas) composed by Maurice Ravel (Bolero).
The Revueltas music includes music from two film scores that rank amongst his most popular compositions: La noche de los Mayos which is from a 1939 film of the same name and Music from Redes, a 1935 film co-directed by Fred Zinnemann and Emilio Gómez Muriel. Zinnemann is best known for such films as From Here to Eternity and High Noon.
When listening to the music of Revueltas you hear, in my opinion, the future and the past of Mexico. You can hear references to the earliest people there, but also a reaching forward to something new. In both the orchestration and the composition itself, Revueltas offers a soundscape that is wholly original and unlike anything being used for film at the time.
In 1999, the Los Angeles Philharmonic released a recording of Revueltas’ music. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted. This is well-worth checking out as an introduction to Revueltas’ utterly compelling and fascinating music. Amongst the highlights are Sensemayá and Ventanas for Large Orchestra.
The second half features more familiar scores by George Gershwin (An American in Paris), Maurice Jarre (Dr. Zhivago), Leonard Roseman (East of Eden), Miklós Rózsa (Double Indemnity) and Max Steiner (Now Voyager, Casablanca).
If you find yourself at one of this weekend’s concerts and want to hear more of La noche de los Mayos, the entire composition will be performed by the LA Phil with Dudamel in Día de Los Muertos with Dudamel beginning on November 1st.
Also on the program is Villa-Lobos’ Chôros No. 10, “Rasga o Coração, a work for chorus and orchestra by the Brazilian composer. Immediately following that will be Gabriela Ortiz‘s Yanga which the LA Phil premiered in 2019.
Revueltas did not live a long life (he passed away at the age of 40). In addition to being a composer, he was an acclaimed violinist, he fought in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and he was a conductor. He composed over 40 significant works (much of which should still be recorded) ranging from piano solos, orchestral work, ballet scores and songs.
I hope this is the beginning of a greater exploration of Silvestre Revueltas and his music. There is so much here that is begging to be heard and there’s no better way to hear it than to hear it live.
I’ll be at each of these concerts and encourage you to do the same.
Photo: John Williams and Gustavo Dudamel (Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic)