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World-premiere recordings of early works that shed new light on a foundational figure in Mexican classical music.

Until recently, it was widely believed that Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) only began composing in his thirties-during the final decade of a life tragically cut short by alcoholism and pneumonia. By the age of 39, he had already secured his place as the most important Mexican composer of his generation, with orchestral masterpieces such as Sensemayá and La noche de los Mayos: works notably less indebted to European models than those of his elders and contemporaries, including Carlos Chávez.

The rediscovery of these manuscripts, as recently as 2024, reveals that Revueltas had in fact been composing from his teenage years, and that he was an accomplished pianist as well as a violinist. This pioneering album presents 24 piano pieces, none exceeding four minutes except for a two-movement Sonatina, with the longest being a Lento doloroso. Most date from 1915, when Revueltas studied at the National Conservatoire, though later works stem from his years in Chicago (1919) and 1924, when he wrote his final piano piece, a Satie-like caprice titled Tragedia en forma de rábano (Tragedy in the Form of a Radish).

Together, these works form a kind of musical diary, reflecting both the influence of his teachers, Manuel Ponce and Felipe Villanueva, and the emergence of a distinctly Mexican voice evolving between romanticism and modernism.

Of Mexican and German heritage, pianist Rodolfo Ritter-professor at the Conservatoire in Mexico City-is a leading advocate for the music of his homeland. As performer, editor, and musicologist, he has premiered numerous works by Mexican composers while also performing the concerto repertoire from Chopin to Bartók. His combination of scholarship and artistry makes him the ideal interpreter to bring these long-forgotten piano works by Revueltas to international attention.