Redes (Revueltas)


Redes is a film score by the Mexican Composer Silvestre Revueltas for the film of the same name.
It was his first film score, begun in 1934, when he visited the film crew on location in Alvarado. It was the start of a distinguished career in film music, cut short by Revueltas' death in 1940 from alcoholism.
The film concerns the efforts of exploited fishermen to unite. Redes means "nets" in Spanish. The directors were Fred Zinnemann and Emilio Gomez Muriel.

Concert versions

Revueltas arranged a concert version which he premiered in 1936, the same year as the film was released. However, in concert performance the music is usually heard in an arrangement by Erich Kleiber, made in the 1940s after the composer's death. Kleiber's version is in two parts and lasts about 16 minutes.
A contemporary newspaper review by Aaron Copland regarded this score to possess "many of the qualities characteristic of Revueltas's art".

Recordings

The complete score has been recorded by the PostClassical Ensemble conducted by Angel Gil-Ordoñez for a version of the film released on DVD by Naxos in 2016.