Revueltas: Ocho por radio

“Superb virtuosos” Fanfare

“The sheer verve and power of his music leads one to think of Revueltas as primarily an orchestral composer, but many of his works are written for relatively modest forces (or started out that way, like Sensemayá, given a spirited performance here). Often, it's the ferocity of his sound – and liberal use of percussion – that gives the music a bigger texture than its actual layout might suggest.
Even so relatively modest a piece as the playful octet Ocho x Radio (1933) feels like a small orchestral score. Curiously, the early Pieza paradoce instrumentos (1929; left untitled by Revueltas) seems much smaller in scale despite being longer.
The four movements chart a gentle course in increasing tempi from Lento to Allegro. Here the burlesque and grotesque strains in his musical psyche were yet to be allowed full rein, but were unleashed in El renacuajo paseador ('The Wandering Tadpole', 1933), with its quotations and teasing allusions. The tiny suite describes how a tadpole meets an untimely end after going out for a drink with a mouse, the moral of which did not deter the composer from terminal alcoholism.
Caminando (1937) is a real find.
One of the final projects Revueltas worked on was Luis Córdova's 'caustic satire on fascism', Este era un Rey ('Once there was a King', 1940).
The Preludio y Fuga ritmicos by his close friend José Pomar completes a splendid disc – derived from concert performances – that deserves every success. Highly recommended.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010