This collection of Mexican orchestral works, originally recorded in 1981 and 1987 (and previously appearing on various labels), offers some wonderfully atmospheric and engaging performances. The most well known pieces here are Carlos Chávez’s Sinfonia India and Silvestre Revueltas’ dark and mysterious Sensamaya, but the less familiar are equally captivating, all featuring joyously driving rhythms, exotic local coloring, and brazenly robust percussion.
There’s the expected dancing aplenty in works such as Sones de Mariachi and Huapango, but there’s also a welcome variety of moods, as in Ocho x Radio and Don Lindo de Almeria. However, the biggest draw here is the authenticity and sense of enjoyment projected by the Mexican players under Herrera de la Fuente’s enthusiastic leadership. The minimally-miked recordings place the orchestra in a warmly reverberant acoustic setting, even if the early digital technique results in sound of less body and presence than we are accustomed to today. If you’re curious about Mexican symphonic music, there are few better places to begin your exploration than with this highly enjoyable disc.
