The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Based on Oscar Wilde's impassioned text 'Le Ballade de la Geôle de Reading', Jacques Ibert's first symphonic work astonished and impressed audiences with its dark atmospheres of anguished madness and terror. The Trois Pièces de Ballet portray society guests with colourful music-hall wit, contrasting with the impressionistic symphonic poem Féerique and the horrors of war expressed in Chant de Folie, while the Suite Élisabéthaine introduces ancient styles to enhance Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

This release first appeared in 1993 on our Marco Polo label (8223508), and was recommended by the Penguin Guide as having "Good performances and [an] eminently serviceable recording". Jacques Ibert's early orchestral and ballet scores have remained neglected in the intervening decades and so this program retains its unique position in the catalogue.

Naxos has had a long and fruitful relationship with the Slovak Symphony Orchestra.