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© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
Carlos Chavez is the greatest (perhaps) Mexican composer (of serious concert music) ever. But, these symphonies (there are six) are very good (I haven't heard any of his other music). One of the attractions of this music, is that much of it sounds like the more popular pieces by Aaron Copland (similar use of brass, folk melodies, and energy). In fact, it fulfills my wish that Copland had written more music. Of course, Chavez is not Copland. Quite a bit of this music sounds quite original.
The symponies:
The Second Symphony (Sinfonía India) is filled with Native American themes and uses Native American instruments, and does sound a lot like Copland.
The CD that I have (Eduardo Mata with the London Symphony Orchestra) is an inexpensive VoxBox (2 CDs). I recommend it.
I was unaware of this, but there have been several excellent Mexican composers, mostly of guitar music, but also chamber music, and music for orchestra.
Order this recording from Amazon.com (goes directly to this recording).