THE SIX SYMPHONIES, conducted by the composer
Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México
CBS Masterworks 32 31 002 - 3 stereo LPs [P] 1967
Individual FLAC files, scans
As best I can tell, these recordings have never been transferred to CD.
CHAVEZ: THE SIX SPLENDID SYMPHONIES
by Alfred Frankenstein (High Fidelity, August 1967)
THIS MONUMENTAL RELEASE is a tribute to the genius of Carlos Chávez in more ways than one. Chávez is not only the most distinguished symphonist in the entire Latin- American world; he was also the founder and for many years the conductor of the magnificent orchestra which he directs in this recording. Chávez put Mexico on the map, symphonically speaking. in both senses of the phrase.
By far the best known of his six symphonies are the first two: one because it exploits Mexican national material, the other because it exists in an atmosphere easily associated with Mexican
antiquity.
The First is the short, one-movement Sinfonía de Antigone of 1932. Embodying material originally written as incidental music for Sophocles' tragedy as "contracted" by Jean Cocteau. the work
creates an effect of a single, great monolithic gesture; it draws together the grandeur of the pre -Columbian and the grandeur of the Greek, but reduced in essence to a statement of unforgettable
size and force. All this in ten minutes and five seconds.
The Second Symphony. the Sinfonia India of 1935 -36, is the work on which. more than any other, the reputation of Chávez rests. As its title indicates. it is based on Indian themes. marvelously
exploiting their repetitiveness. their stark- ness. and their overwhelming cumulative power. The Sinfonia India is clearly one of the progeny of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring; it is also one of the very few
descendants of that savage masterpiece which can stand up to its predecessor both in force and individuality. It has been recorded several times before. but the new version is by far the finest to
date: not only does it give us the energy of Chavez's own interpretation. but it is the only recorded performance to make use of the Mexican Indian instruments - drums, rasps, rattles, whistles--which the score demands. The last four symphonies have no trace of Mexican nationalism. at least to my ears.
The Symphony No. 3 is a big. elegiac work in four movements. commissioned by Clare Boothe Luce in memory of her daughter and completed in 1954. Here. Chávez concerns himself more with the eternal problems of symphonic form and texture (including a great deal of fugue) than with any external suggestions or references, although the circumstances of the commission dictate the severity and somberness which distinguish this symphony from the others. Perhaps because of that very severity and somberness, the Fourth Symphony (composed for the Louisville Orchestra in 1953, before the completion of the Third) is one of the most brilliant, high -spirited. and exhilarating in the
twentieth -century repertoire. Chávez titled it Sinfonica Romantica and if romanticism includes musical rockets, fireworks, and a general air of joy in living. it is well named.
Also written in 1953 (for the Koussevitzky Foundation), the Fifth Symphony is for strings only, and there are very few compositions that explore the strings with such color and variety of effect. This piece is quite as strenuous a workout for orchestra and audience as any of the others; it is not a string quartet to be played by sixty men but a genuine symphony created for the richness. deep resonances. and fantastic lacy effects of which strings are capable.
In the Sixth Symphony. composed in 1964 for the New York Philharmonic. the classic problems of form and texture are once again to the fore, but the most remarkable feature of this work (it fills an entire record side) is the passacaglia with which it concludes. In his somewhat scanty jacket notes, Herbert Weinstock finds a Mexican Indian influence: for my ears. however. the principal influence
would seen to be the similarly constructed finale to Brahms's Symphony No. 4. Brahms wrote no more symphonies after his Fourth. Chávez. one hopes. will write at least another half dozen after his
Sixth. will likewise record them with his own great orchestra. and will he as beautifully served by the CBS technical staff as he has been on this occasion.
CHAVEZ: Symphonies (6)
Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México,
Carlos Chávez. cond. CBS ( 32 31 0001.
$17.39: 32 3 1 0002. $ 17.39 (three discs).