Composer of the Week: Carlos Chávez

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

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An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Carlos Chávez (1899-1978): Educating a Rebel

Educating a Rebel

Carlos Chávez (1899-1978)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Carlos Chávez (1899-1978), Educating a Rebel

The man who single-handedly revolutionised Mexican music.

Chávez single-handedly revolutionised Mexican music and may have shaped American music more than any other. Odaline de la Martinez joins Donald to discuss his little-known legacy.

Carlos Chávez was both a rebel and an educator. Born in a Mexico on the brink of revolution, he would go on to single-handedly revolutionise Mexican music and culture, filling his compositions with indigenous Aztec stories and sounds. Many cite Aaron Copland as an influence on Chávez, but the truth may have been the reverse. While Copland was championing American music in the States, Chávez was fighting for it in Mexico, educating the next generation of Mexican composers. He may have shaped American music more than any other - yet his legacy is little known. Odaline de la Martinez joins Donald Macleod to explore his life and work.

In today's programme, Donald finds a young Chávez, learning piano, as a ruthless regime is wrought outside his window. At first, the European avant-garde captures his imagination but soon he discovers inspiration a little closer to home.

Three Pieces for Guitar
Eduardo Fernandez, guitar

Sexteto para Arcos y Piano: III. Andante & IV. Finale
Cuarteto Carlos Chávez

Los Cuatro Soles
Ambrosian Singers
London Symphony Orchestra 
Carlos Chávez, conductor

Chapultepec "Republican Overture"
Royal Philharmonix Orchestra
Enrique Batiz, conductor

Produced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio Wales and West

Composer of the Week: Carlos Chávez (1899-1978)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of revolutionary Mexican composer Carlos Chávez.

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of composer Carlos Chávez, the man who single-handedly revolutionised Mexican music.

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Carlos Chávez (1899-1978)

Educating a Rebel

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