Redes (Revueltas)

Redes is a film score by the Mexican Composer Silvestre Revueltas for the film of the same name. It was his first film score, begun in 1934, when he visited the film crew on location in Alvarado. It was the start of a distinguished career in film music, cut short by Revueltas' death in 1940 from alcoholism.

The film concerns the efforts of exploited fishermen to unite. Redes means "nets" in Spanish. The directors were Fred Zinnemann and Emilio Gomez Muriel.

Concert versions

Revueltas arranged a concert version which he premiered in 1936, the same year as the film was released. However, in concert performance the music is usually heard in an arrangement by Erich Kleiber, made in the 1940s after the composer's death. Kleiber's version is in two parts and lasts about 16 minutes.[1]

• Part I
  • The Fisherman
  • The Child’s Funeral
  • Setting Out to Fish
• Part II
  • The Fight
  • The Return of the Fishermen with Their Dead Friend

Critical reception

A contemporary newspaper review by Aaron Copland regarded this score to possess "many of the qualities characteristic of Revueltas's art".[2]

Recordings

The complete score has been recorded by the PostClassical Ensemble conducted by Angel Gil-Ordoñez for a version of the film released on DVD by Naxos in 2016.[3]

References

1. "Program Notes" (PDF). Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
2. Copland, Aaron (May 1937). "Mexican Composer". New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
3. Antonio Muñoz Molina, "Aparición de Silvestre Revueltas". El País (28 May 2016; accessed 7 June 2016).

Further reading

• Bowles, Paul. Paul Bowles on Music, edited by Timothy Mangan and Irene Hermann. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press; London: University of California Press, Ltd, 2003. ISBN 978-0-520-23655-4.
• Contreras Soto, Eduardo. Silvestre Revueltas: baile, duelo y son. Teoría y práctica del arte. México, D. F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Dirección General de Publicaciones, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2000.
• Estrada, Julio. Canto roto: Silvestre Revueltas. Vida y Pensamiente de México. México, D. F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2012. ISBN 978-607-16-0951-9.
• Garland, Peter. In Search of Silvestre Revueltas: Essays 1978–1990. Santa Fe: Soundings Press, 1991.
• Giro, Radamés. Imágen de Silvestre Revueltas. México, D. F.: Presencia Latinoamericana, 1983.
• Kolb, Roberto. "Redes: La versión de concierto de Silvestre Revueltas". Pauta, nos. 87–88 (July–December 2003): 38–53.
• Kolb-Neuhaus, Roberto. "Silvestre Revueltas's Redes: Composing for Film or Filming for Music?" The Journal of Film Music 2, nos. 2–4 (Winter 2009): 127–44.
• Mayer-Serra, Otto. "Silvestre Revueltas and Musical Nationalism in Mexico". Musical Quarterly 27, no. 2 (April 1941): 123–45.
• Nugent, Frank. S. The Screen: At the Filmarte: The Wave, New York Times (21 April 1937): 18.
• Slonimsky, Nicolas. Music in Latin America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1945.
• Teibler-Vondrak, Antonia. Silvestre Revueltas: Musik für Bühne und Film. Wiener Schriften zur Stilkunde und Aufführungspraxis: Sonderband 6. Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar: Böhlau Verlag Ges. m. b. H. und Co. KG, 2011. ISBN 978-3-205-78767-9.