# Favorite Latin-American Inspired Classical Piece



## mahlernerd (Jan 19, 2020)

What are your favorite classical pieces either written by a Latin American composer (Mexican, Brazilian, etc..), or piece inspired by Latin-American music?

Mine are:
Marquez: Danzón No. 2
Chávez: Sinfonia India
Moncayo: Huopango
Bernstein: Mambo from West Side Story


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Currently quite keen on Villa-Lobos symphonies 6&7.

I rather like Copland's El Salon.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

There's so much excellent music from South of the Border and so few people seem aware of it. I've played a lot, and heard a lot in concert - living on a border state and having a lot of conductors from Mexico and Brazil has helped. Some of my favorites:

1)Silvestre Revueltas: Sensemaya is a stunner - terrifying music. Redes is also very fine. Caminos and Ventanas too
2) Carlos Chaves: Sinfonia India (no 2) is very exciting. His other symphonies leave me cold. But Horse Power is wonderful.
3) Manuel Ponce: Estampas Nocturnas
4) Robert McBride (American composer) wrote a terrific Mexican Rhapsody
5) Alberto Ginastera: Estancia. and Malambo
6) H. Owen Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana. This was originally written for wind band, which is how most people know it and what's on Youtube. But Reed also wrote an orchestral version. It's extremely powerful, emotional and exciting. 

7) Louis Moreau Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics. The second movement is one of the most lovable, tuneful, rhythmic, catchy, Latin-infused things ever written. I love this music. I made my own arrangement following Gottschalk's original score and performed it several times - audiences and players just love it, too.

The now-defunct label ASV had a great series, Musica Mexicana, that is well worth seeking out - great stuff. I learned much of this music when the late Eduardo Mata was conductor of the Phoenix Symphony. Those were great times and we sure heard a lot of exciting and rare music.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

I am a huge fan of Latin-American music. Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. Central Time on WFMT-Chicago, composer and music professor Elbio Barilari hosts a show called "Fiesta" to explore Latin-American music. This is the one radio show that I simply won't miss. Cats climbing the walls? Daddy's busy. Here's a link in case anyone's interested (understanding that I have no affiliation with WFMT): https://www.wfmt.com/programs/fiesta-latin-american-music-with-elbio-barilari/

I experience and learn a little bit more every week, but I can say in brief that I recommend the Chávez Sinfonia India (No. 2), and everything I've heard by Silvestre Revueltas.


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## caracalla (Feb 19, 2020)

One Early Baroque disc I greatly enjoy is Leonardo García Alarcón's 'Carmina Latina', which features music by Spanish composers who either emigrated to the New World or spent a lot of time there in the early 17thC. It's essentially Spanish music, of course, but incorporating varying degrees of local influence. One of the snappier sacred numbers is the anonymous 'Hanacpachap cussicuinin' (Quecha), a hymn published in 1631 for use in the South American missions. Should intrigue anyone who appreciated the film 'The Mission', though that's set a good century later.


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## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

These are some of the Latin American-related works that I've listened to most over the years …

Silvestre REVUELTAS: *Música de Feria* (1932)
:: Cuarteto Latinoamericano [New Albion]





Aaron COPLAND: *El salón México* (1936)
:: Koussevitzky/BSO [Victor]





Alberto GINASTERA: *Danzas argentinas* (1937)
:: Argerich [EMI, live]





Silvestre REVUELTAS: *Sensemayá* (1938)
:: Bernstein/NYPO [Columbia]





Heitor VILLA-LOBOS: *String Quartet No. 9* (1945)
:: Cuarteto Latioamericano [Dorian]





Conlon NANCARROW: *Player Piano Study 3A* (1948)
:: Bang on a Can [video]





Julián ORBÓN: *Tres cantigas del rey* (1960)
:: Baird, Puyana, Mata/Solistas de México [Dorian]





Alberto GINASTERA: *Violin Concerto* (1963)
:: Accardo, Bonaventura/Hopkins Center Orchestra [Dynamic]





Alberto GINASTERA: *Concerto per corde* (1965)
:: Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra [Columbia]





Mario DAVIDOVSKY: *Romancero* (1983)
:: Narucki, Speculum Musicae [Bridge]





Conlon NANCARROW: *String Quartet No. 3* (1987)
:: Arditti Quartet [Wergo]


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Respighi's _Brazilian Impressions_
Villa Lobos _Momoprecoce_


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