El Salón México

El Salón México is a symphonic composition in one movement by Aaron Copland, which uses Mexican folk music extensively.

I remember reading about it for the first time in a tourist guide book: "Harlem-type nightclub for the peepul [ sic in the original ], grand Cuban orchestra.

It was a rare venue where rich, middle class, and poor all attended, with a famous sign, in the lower-class or "proletariat" room, where barefoot dancing was frequent, saying "Don't throw cigarette butts on the floor because the ladies will burn their feet.

Critics have variously described the piece as containing two, three, or four parts, but many listeners find that it moves seamlessly from one theme to another with no clear internal boundaries.

In addition, a piano transcription of the score was made by conductor Arturo Toscanini in 1942, when the Maestro included the music on an NBC broadcast concert.

Other conductors who made recordings of El Salon Mexico include Arthur Fiedler, Eugene Ormandy, and Eduardo Mata.

Serge Koussevitsky, Boston Symphony Orch., was recorded Nov. 1939 RCA Victor Album M651, transferred to Pearl GEMM 9492.

The 1938 U.S. premiere performance by Adrian Boult and the NBC Symphony Orchestra has been issued from transcription discs on Pristine PASC 626.