The Orchestra of the Americas, based in Mexico City and taking inspiration and support from both North and South America, is made up of young musicians and forms something of a counterpart to youth-oriented European groups. This release, issued by Scotland's Linn label, ought to expand their repuation. The program draws attention in itself. It would have been very easy to feature works containing Latin rhythms in this album, Pan-American Reflections, inasmuch as Aaron Copland drew major inspiration from such rhythms in the ...
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The Orchestra of the Americas, based in Mexico City and taking inspiration and support from both North and South America, is made up of young musicians and forms something of a counterpart to youth-oriented European groups. This release, issued by Scotland's Linn label, ought to expand their repuation. The program draws attention in itself. It would have been very easy to feature works containing Latin rhythms in this album, Pan-American Reflections, inasmuch as Aaron Copland drew major inspiration from such rhythms in the ballet Rodeo and other works, and probably learned some of them from the other composer on the bill, Mexico's Carlos Chávez. Instead, conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto takes a less obvious tack. The Copland Symphony No. 3 is notable as the work from his populist period that uses the least popular influences, and there's hardly a trace of Latin sound. Chávez for his part, in the Symphony No. 2 ("Sinfonía India"), draws not from Latin American rhythms, but from Native American music, with...
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