Music conductor Enrique Bátiz’s father had different plans for him; he wanted his son to be the president of Mexico. But then the country would perhaps have been deprived of one of Latin America’s most famous musical talents.
His contribution to his nation has earned Bátiz many national accolades, including Mexico’s Mozart medal awarded to him in 1991 by the Domecq Cultural Institute. In addition, his home-country declared him an “Outstanding Mexican.
Maestro Enrique Bátiz steers the sounds of local snake-killing ritual in to the classical stage that is largely dominated by Europe. The Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, which is led by Bátiz, is intent on introducing and popularizing Mexican and Latin traditions with audiences in the West while also playing music in Germanic, Austrian and Russian styles.
“I think it is the first time you hear many Mexican pieces, said Bátiz before he conducted the final piece at the Cairo Opera House last Tuesday. The audience, many of whom gave him a standing ovation following the previous three pieces, cheered in consent.
Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture started the evening, followed by Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Opera 70 carrying the more familiar and symmetrical classical sounds as the maestro’s baton precisely directed dozens of instruments.
With violins, cellos, and string instruments downstage, the wind instruments were in center stage at a small height while the percussion instruments dominated the upstage. For the first half, there was only one percussionist, who beat softly to add magnanimity to the sound.
It was the second half of the performance, however, that carried the bang, the Mexican flavor, and the addition of a few more percussion instruments including scratchers and snake-drums used in the snake-killing rituals in Mexico.
Featuring pieces by Carlos Chavez, Roberto Sierra, Jose Pablo Moncayo, the second half consisted of what Bátiz terms “nationalistic compositions. Percussions lend the music a body and energy characteristic of “folklore, nature, and primitive, beautiful melodies, said Bátiz.
Following Chavez’s compositions, Bátiz received his first ovation, with additional salutary encores in every following piece.
A clacking percussion instrument introduced Sierra’s Fandangos, setting the tone for percussions that contrasted the string-instruments and continued like someone obstinately keeping his head amid enchanting music. Violins soon followed the tune set by percussions and the music heightened into a lull. The silence was broken by a piano and returned to the start of the symphony.
A conductor of tremendous presence, Bátiz started learning piano when he was five years old. As early as the age of 17, he received scholarships to study in the best institutions. He studied at Juilliard School in New York and later continued piano studies in Poland.
Bátiz won acclaim for his performances as a pianist in the 60s and 70s, while also beginning his studies as a conductor with Stanislaw Wisloski. His debut as a conductor was in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1969 with the Xalapa Orchestra. He has since worked with over 150 of the world s leading orchestras, including the Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staats, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Moscow Philharmonic.
Along with Beethoven’s complete nine symphonies, Bátiz has also recorded the complete orchestra pieces by Joaquin Rodrigo, Manuel M. Ponce, and Georges Bizet, and eight volumes of Mexican music.
Yet, solving the mystery of Beethoven is something he could not have done without his encounter with Herbert von Karajan.
“One of my goals, confided Bátiz, “was to meet Karajan when he was alive.
“They call him ‘dictator’, he said, “I reply, ‘He was savvy’.
Karajan was considered the “king of classical music of his time, said Bátiz.
“Contrary to what everybody said, he was very gentle and very comprehensive and he gave me a few lessons.
Unsure of how to conduct Beethoven’s “Eroica Nos. 3 and “5, Bátiz sought advice from Karajan. “He told me how he instructs the Philharmonic, and it became very simple.
“Then he said to me, ‘You can remain looking at me, or you can go. Do it’.
A champion to Mexican classical music, Bátiz nevertheless credits Karajan with much more than solving the puzzle of Beethoven’s symphonies for him.
“He saved my life as a musician.
