Sony Classical is pleased to announce an important reissue of works by Carlos Chávez, one of the most influential figures in the history of Mexican music. Most of these recordings, which span the years 1938 to 1980, are conducted by Chávez himself and have never appeared before on CD.

Chávez conducted several recordings of his own music and that of other composers. One of the earliest was made in 1938 for RCA Victor, with Chávez conducting the Orquesta Sinfónica de México in his first two symphonies, Sinfonía de Antígona and the widely-performed Sinfonía india – which makes use of native Yaqui percussion instruments and indigenous melodies – together with his orchestration of Buxtehude’s Chaconne in E minor. This recording now makes its CD debut in Sony Classical’s new release.

In 1940, New York’s Museum of Modern Art hosted a pioneering Chávez concert, which was recorded and released on 78s that year by Columbia Masterworks. Reissued on an LP in 1949, it appears here for the first time on CD.

The CD box also includes Chávez’s “imagined Aztec music” Xochipilli and a dance from his ballet Los cuatro soles (The Four Suns, 1925); Chavez’s complete collection of symphonies - there are six of them, the last one dedicated to Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic; Chávez’s 1966 sessions in Mexico City with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico; ballet Los cuatro soles and selections from the 1968 ballet Pirámide for orchestra.

In the 1920s, following Mexico’s long and violent revolution, Chávez was among the first composers to create a nationalist idiom inspired by the Aztecs. He is often linked in the US to his friend and contemporary Aaron Copland; each sought to reflect his national tradition in a style liberated from the dominance of European classical music.

As a conductor, Chávez led international ensembles, including Toscanini’s NBC Symphony, as well as his country’s leading orchestras. In 1928 he formed the Orquesta Sinfónica de Mexico and directed it for two decades. Deluxe 7-CD mid-price box-set.