‘My Mexican Soul’   
Campa Melodía para Violín y Orquesta, Op 1(a) R Castro Intermezzo de Atzimba Chapela Inguesu Chávez Suite de Caballos de vapor: El Tropico Huízar Imágenes Ibarra Sinfonia No 2 Lavista Clepsydra Márquez Danzón No 2 Moncayo Huapango Ponce Concierto del Sur(b) Revueltas Sensemayá Rosas Sobre las Olas Toussaint Concierto para piano improvisado y orquestra – Largo(c)
(a)Daniel Andai vn (b)Pablo Sainz Villegas gtr (c)Alex Brown pf Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas / Alondra de la Parra

Sony 88697 755552 Buy now

I can’t imagine how heartily hacked off Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra must be with the inevitable, although often lazy, comparisons between her work and Gustavo Dudamel’s; but charismatic, attractive young conductor fashions local talent into a mighty orchestral force-of-nature to perform Latin American music? You can see from where the comparison derives.

But “My Mexican Soul” – Parra and her Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas’ debut recording – is recommendable on its own terms. An animated, feral account of Silvestre Revueltas’ cult Sensemayá (Mexican music’s equivalent Rite of Spring moment) stands out, but Federico Ibarra’s Sinfonia No 2 Las antesalas del sueño (1993) is wired into that same “wild man” Mexican new wave. Parra moves the piece from spiky introductory violence towards a momentum-driven dénouement forcefully and meticulously.

Other pieces register as more of an indulgence. The Largo from Eugenio Toussaint’s jazz-based Concierto para piano improvisado y orquesta doesn’t add up to much more than boffin-enhanced muzak; Gustavo Campa’s violin and orchestra Mélodie and Ponce’s Concierto del Sur para guitarra y orquestra are essentially European classical forms (Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mozart) spoken with a Mexican inflection; interesting enough, but short on reward over the long haul. To make sure you’re still listening, though, the set ends with Inguesu by Enrico Chapela, born in 1974 and the youngest composer represented here. Based on a famous Mexico vs Brazil football match (guess who won?), a Ligeti-like cloud of micropolyphony dissolves into Ivesian disjoints and overlays.

Which makes me think a light music record has crashed into a something weightier. So a game of two halves, but you won’t feel robbed.

Philip Clark