BLAS GALINDO (1910-1993): Poema de Neruda, Homenaje a Rubén Darío for Narrator and String Orchestra (Hernán del Riego [narrator])*, RODOLFO HALFFTER (1900-1987): Elegía in memoriam Carlos Chávez, Op. 41, JOSÉ PABLO MONCAYO (1912-1958): Homenaje a Cervantes, ANA LARA (b.1957): Canticum Sacrum* * - First recordings.

Description: All but one of these works are homages or in memoriam pieces for artists and, thus, tend toward the solemn and measured. Galindo’s Poema, an orchestration of a choral setting of a Neruda poem from 1948, and Moncayo’s Cervantes homage (1944) almost flow right into each other in their sarabande/processional tempos. Halffter adds a bit of dissonance in his elegy for Chávez which dates from 1978, the year of the composer’s death. The longest work here is Galindo’s 23-minute nod to a Nicaraguan poet for the centetenary of his birth in 1967. The notes tell us nothing about the text set but the narrator is a dramatic presence, almost a part of the orchestra, so skillfully is he recorded, and his declmation has an actor’s flair and the music real dramatic ebbs and flows of emotion; actually the most gripping thing on this disc whatever your feelings may be about works for narrator and orchestra. Lara’s nine-minute Canticum is, like the Poema de Neruda which began this disc, an orchestration of a choral work of 1997 - the Kyrie of an a cappellla Requiem written for an annual Mexican festival associated with Cervantes - that brings the program full-circle. No texts. Orquesta de Camara de Bellas Artes; José Luis Castillo.