July 8, 1938

No dedication

December 15, 1938, Palace of Fine Arts, Symphony Orchestra of Mexicans, Cond. Silvestre Revueltas.

Aprox.17’

Fl, ob, cl[B♭], bn / 2cor, 2tpt, 2tbn, tba / timp, perc / pf / strings

The autograph has been preserved.

Score originally written for a film documentary on the construction of a railway that would be a material link between the Baja California peninsula and the rest of the country, crossing the Desierto del Altar.
The original manuscript (the score used for the documentary) is untitled. A manuscript from the same time done by copyist Jesús Medina is entitled Chit-Chat Music. Erich Kleiber used this transcription to compile a suite entitled Landscapes. (In this material, Revueltas’s title has been erased and Kleiber’s written over it.)
There is no evidence of the existence of a concert version independent and distinct from the material making up the film score. The structure of this score is that of a suite, and it is possible that Revueltas premiered it just as it appears in the autograph.

For chatting, sleeping, drinking tea, or whatever: music for not thinking. I find music that makes you think intolerable, excruciating, and there are people who prefer it. I adore music that makes me sleep. (That’s why I have a number of fans.)

Kahan, Salomón. “Música: Música sinfónica de mexicanos.” El Universal Gráfico (December 20, 1938).

Southern Music Publishing Co. (version by Erich Kleiber)