Esquinas

Esquinas (Corners) is an orchestral composition by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas, written in 1931 and extensively revised in 1933.

[1] According to one source, a version of Esquinas for orchestra alone was premiered on 20 November 1931 by the Orquesta Sinfónica de México under the composer's baton.

Yesterday's corners with today's emotion, observed from other roads of the heart with a new perspective, more understanding, more faithful, more experienced; modeled with new material, leaving intact their tortured anguish of fettered aspirations, their persistent pain stuck in the middle of the street, the harrowing cry of the poor and helpless vendor, fruitful in a defiance that now feels a little strange within the encouraging optimism of my present desire, happy and strong as a whole mountain of new energy and new hope.

There remains only the substance of these tumultuous corners that retain the noise of the crowds' struggle, their bitter taste of heartbreak and the hard consistency of the people, forged in all their sorrows.

Second, the required registers exceed the normal range of a typical vocal tessitura, creating problematic technical difficulties.

The unusual way of incorporating the voice (since she is neither a soloist, nor is part of the orchestra, and her participation is brief and sporadic) appears to be explained by its communicative function serving the composer to highlight or underline certain musical elements he considered significant".

[9] It has been proposed that the musical construction of Esquinas is based on the cries of Mexican street vendors who once populated the urban landscape.

The incorporation of these characteristic features merely suggests a semantic marking, enabling or enhancing their identification as a musical sign of cultural origin.

[11] As an instance of Revueltas's harsher, more abstract, and modernist style, Esquinas was poorly received by audiences initially, in contrast to his more lyrical and tonal works, such as Colorines and Janitzio.