Manuel Ponce was one of Mexico’s most prolific and decorated composers and remains highly esteemed and popular today. Leaving Mexico midway through the Revolution, he lived in Cuba between 1915 and 1917 and soon absorbed the island’s seductive Caribbean sensuality and subtle dances, also expressing melancholic nostalgia for his homeland in the Elegía de la ausencia. While living in Paris from 1925 to 1933, Ponce explored new compositional techniques, resulting in his own modernist style, as heard in the Suite bitonal which is notable not only for its use of polytonality but its inspired lyricism.