Raíces: Nuestra Onda

This is Mr. Onda. I'm Mike Sausadel, your host for this portrait of Eduardo Mata, conductor of the Dallas Symphony. I believe very much in live music, as opposed to recorded music. I think recorded music offers just one dimension. And the worst handicap of record is the fact that the second time you played is already old. The interpretation, whatever the interpretation maybe of that record starts aging after the first plane. Therefore, I believe in the essential vitality of live music. Going to a concert is going to a happening, going to a place where something is being created, and it will disappear. Even when a fantastic concert is recorded, it's never the same when we hear it for the second or third time.

The experience of listening to music is unique. And I believe that this is what is going to keep live music in all of those musicians in business. For a long time to come, live music is huge, it's a big cause of that. There can be no doubt that Eduardo Mata and the Dallas Symphony are in business. And since Mata became music director in 1977, the Symphony has been about the business of achieving world-class status. His fiery enthusiasm and youthful energy have come to symbolize a new era for classical music. What I'm trying to do is to serve from the players. To bring out from the players, certain sounds, certain colors, certain textures that will eventually compound for the work of art that then goes to the audience. I don't believe in the conductor in that sense as a center of attention, the conductor has to be the center of attention for the musicians.

But I don't believe in that personality cult of people who go to see the conductor as opposed to hear the performance. Eduardo Mata was born in Mexico City and grew up in an environment hardly conducive to the development of a Western classical music tradition. Mexico's richness, of course, lies in the profound vastness of its bulk and popular music. At 14, he began studying composition at the National Conservatory. Under the guidance of Carlos Chavez, the Conservatory's founder and Mexico's foremost classical music figure, Mata's interest began to shift toward conducting. However, not before he had completed three symphonies, some chamber music, and several ballets. Mata's first orchestra was the University Philharmonic of Mexico City, which he conducted for nine years. After further study in the U.S., he began guest conducting with the Boston, London, and Phoenix symphonies.

The Dallas responsibility has him providing artistic direction and supervising the general affairs of the symphony. The future for Dallas looks promising. Two installments of the complete works of Ravel have been completed. Works by Gershwin, Stravinsky, Mozart, and Copeland also comprise Mata's Dallas discography. A positive vote on a recent bond election means a new concert hall in 1986. The orchestra will add to its present 86 members. The 52-week schedule will include an expanding repertoire, more guest conductors and soloists, but above all, larger and more appreciative audiences will be cultivated and nurtured. The audience is everything. The fact that the performance may be good or bad sometimes depends strictly on how the audience affects the performance. You speak of vibrations. I don't know if I want to call them vibrations, but there is obviously some form of communication,

which is not spoken between the audience and the performer. And that communication is a fact. It's established and through that communication there is a flow of energy. The reaction of the audience affects me very much the collective reaction of the audience. That's the only true in this profession. Either you sell the tickets and the audience comes back to hear you or they don't. And that's the only truth. The orchestra on this produced by Eduardo Diaz from Albuquerque in New Mexico and mixed to that common El Paso Texas by John Carrillo. Restauranters made possible by grants from NPR's satellite program development fund and from the national endowment for the arts. Classical music, jazz, country and folk, Latinos were involved in all of them.

We've also got our own styles like Brazilian, salsa, on the Chicana and Mexican music. It's all featured in West Rhonda, a series of portraits on leading Latino artists. It's time, Mr. Rhonda. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you.