Blas Galindo: Cantata a la Patria para coro y orquesta (1946)

Orquesta Sinfónica Carlos Chávez dirigida por / Carlos Chávez Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fernando Lozano. Cello: Gabriela Oliva. Coro/Choir: Coro Nacional de México. Blas Galindo pertenece a la generación de compositores mexicanos nacidos durante la Revolución y por lo mismo de empapó de los valores nacionalistas que ésta emanaba. Habiendo nacido en una humilde comunidad indígena, marchó como niño a la revolución y dedicó su adolescencia a desarrollar su talento musical en su comunidad. Esto le permitiría más tarde acceder al reformado Conservatorio Nacional de México e incluso ganó una beca para estudiar con Aaron Copland, ya para entonces gran amigo de la música mexicana, en Tanglewood. Su Cantata a la Patria de 1946 está basada sobre el poema nacionalista Suave Patria (1921) del romántico Ramón López Velarde, la cual es su obra maestra y constituye un elogio a las bondades naturales y humanas de la nación mexicana. Blas Galindo was born during the Mexican Revolution, and thus became permeated with the nationalist values of the conflict. Being born in a humble indigenous community, he went as a child soldier into the revolution and dedicated his teenage years to develop his musical talents within his community. This would later allow him to enter the reformed National Mexican Conservatoire, even winning a grant to study in Tanglewood with Aaron Copland, already a great friend to Mexican Music and composers. His Cantata to the Fatherland of 1946 is based upon the nationalist poem Suave Patria (The Smooth Fatherland, 1921) by romantic poet Ramon Lopez Velarde, which is his masterpiece and constitutes a eulogy to the natural and human nurtures of the Mexican nation. Image/imagen: La Patria / Allegory of the Fatherland. Jorge González Camarena. 1962.