ADOLPHE ADAM
Adam: La Filleule des fées (Complete Ballet) Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Mogrelia [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 23/Apr/2021 ] Adolphe Adam is best known today for the ballets Giselle and Le Corsaire, but his prolific output included 39 operas and several other ballet scores, including the vivacious tale of La Filleule des fées ('The Fairies' God-daughter'). The story takes... |
ADOLPHE ADAM
Adam: La Jolie Fille de Gand (Complete Ballet) Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Mogrelia [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 24/Jan/2022 ] After increasing successes with ballets, melodramas and theatrical works, Adolphe Adam won widespread acclaim with Giselle.. A year later he wrote La Jolie Fille de Gand, which was received just as enthusiastically by audiences and critics alike. |
ADOLPHE ADAM
Adam: Orfa - Romantic Ballet in Two Acts Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Dario Salvi [ Naxos / CD - released 12/May/2023 ] Orfa was Adolphe Adam's penultimate ballet, with an intriguing scenario based on Nordic mythology. It shares analogies with Hesiod's Theogony and Wagner's Ring cycle in depicting the struggle between the older gods (Loki) and younger gods (Odin).... |
GIAN CARLO MENOTTI
Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors / Sebastian: Ballet Suite Chet Allen / Rosemary Kuhlmann / Andrew McKinley / David Aiken / Leon Lishner / Orchestra and Chorus / Thomas Schippers [ Naxos Historical / CD - released 1/Jun/2011 ] "Best of all here is the wonderful conducting of Thomas Schippers, who finds more energy, more poetry and more pathos in Amahl than any other conductor I've heard: in Schippers's hands it is both moving and adorable, and this Naxos transfer by Mark... |
ANTON ARENSKY
Arensky: Egyptian Nights - Complete Ballet Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Dmitry Yablonsky [ Naxos / CD - released 27/Aug/2021 ] A student of Rimsky-Korsakov and the teacher of Rachmaninov and Scriabin, Anton Arensky holds a distinguished place in the history of Russian music as both an academic and a composer. For his 1900 ballet Egyptian Nights, based on Pushkin, he chose an... |
LEONARDO BALADA
Balada: Ballet City/ Caprichos / Spiritual Luis Fernández-Castelló (clarinet) / Ensemble Col legno, Robert Ferrier [ Naxos / CD - released 17/Jul/2018 ] Acknowledged as one of the finest contemporary composers, Barcelona-born Leonardo Balada has written a series of Caprichos, suite-like pieces that illustrate the range of his invention. Fusing traditional and contemporary elements, they generate a... |
BALLET FAVOURITES
Ballet Favourites (excerpts from Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Sylvia, Romeo & Juliet, etc) Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra / Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice / Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra [ Naxos Super Budget Series / CD - released 30/Jun/2008 ] "Tough, tight playing... what an exhilarating performance by Mogrelia. Very fine recording and reproduction of what is a very difficult selection of music." - CLASSIC CD (on the Prokofiev) |
GEORGE ANTHEIL
Antheil: Ballet Mecanique,/ Serenade for String Orchestra No.1 / Symphony for Five Instruments, etc Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Spalding [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Nov/2001 ] "The Philadelphia players sound as if they are enjoying themselves, and at its super-budget price it's an ideal introduction to the 'bad boy of music', who certainly wasn't nearly as bad a composer as many who've come after him." International Record |
JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY
Lully: Ballet Music for the Sun King Mary Enid Haines (soprano) Sharla Nafziger (soprano) Aradia Ensemble / Kevin Mallon (conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 8/Feb/2004 ] "delightfully spruce and rhythmically alive playing that pays due recognition to the composer's elegantly seductive moments" - Fanfare |
GIACOMO MEYERBEER
Meyerbeer: Ballet Music from the Operas Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Michał Nesterowicz [ Naxos / CD - released 28/Mar/2014 ] "This is a most entertaining collection with just a few dull moments - Meyerbeer's fault, not Nesterowicz's - and, as expected, the orchestra really enters into the spirit of this music...One or two dull patches can't take the shine off this engaging |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Ballet Music [Incls 'El Cid'] Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Patrick Gallois [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2014 ] Jules Massenet is best known for operas such as Manon and Werther, but his less familiar stage works are also packed with superb intermezzos and ballet music. Evocative scenes bring the mythical story of Bacchus to life, while Hérodiade deals with... |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Ballet Suites Nos. 1 - 4 Russian Philharmonic Orchestra / Dmitry Yablonsky (conductor) [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Oct/2004 ] "Whether in waltz or gallop Shostakovich proves consistently full of verve and these performances, warmly recorded, are splendid ones" (MusicWeb Nov 2004) |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites, Transcribed for Piano Four Hands Aurora Duo (piano) [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Oct/2009 ] It is astonishing to recall that five years after the première of Swan Lake, one of the greatest of all Russian ballets, and of Tchaikovsky's three full-length ballets the one with the greatest number of memorable tunes, the composer wrote to his... |
LORD BERNERS
Berners.: Triumph of Neptune / L'uomo dai baffi / Valses bourgeoises / Champagne Charlie "Polka" English Northern Philharmonia, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, David Lloyd-Jones [ Naxos / CD - released 13/Aug/2021 ] "...Indeed, his forces respond with hugely committed performances full of gusto and bouncy swagger that make Berners' works as accessible as possible to new listeners." Classical Music Daily |
LORD BERNERS
Berners: Ballet Music - Les Sirènes / Cupid and Psyche Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Gavin Sutherland / RTÉ Sinfonietta, David Lloyd-Jones [ Naxos / CD - released 11/Mar/2022 ] Lord Berners excelled in the ballet medium where he enjoyed collaborations with leading choreographers and conductors with whom his natural flair for spectacle and design could be explored to the full. |
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
On the Town (Original Cast Recording 1940-1956) Betty Comden, John Frank, Adolph Green, Nancy Walker, Leonard Bernstein & others [ Naxos Musicals / CD - released 5/Apr/2010 ] "We'll catch up some other time," sing the lovers in the touching finale to On the Town, but the irony is that this show, perhaps more than any other in musical comedy history couldn't have happened at any other time than exactly when it did. Not... |
THE BEST OF LONDON
The Best of London (Incls 'London Transport Suite', The Westminster Waltz', 'London Again Suite' & 'St. Paul's Suite') BBC Concert Orchestra / Royal Philharmonic / Bournemouth Symphony / Royal Artillery / Band Royal Ballet Sinfonia / etc [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2008 ] A rousing collection of music evoking Britain's capital city in all its pomp and glory. CD 1 takes the listener on a nostalgic journey though British light music from Sullivan to Farnon, whilst CD 2 embraces traditional classical music from all eras. |
GREGSON / STEPTOE / VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / GOLLAND
British Tuba Concertos James Gourlay (tuba) / Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Gavin Sutherland [ Naxos / CD - released 3/Feb/2007 ] James Gourlay is a considerable player, an imposing presence in the Gregson Concerto with his glowing lyricism (he conveys a strong brass-band identity but nuanced with a thoughtful and cultivated chamber-music sound) and a direct, unequivocal... |
ALBENIZ / BIZET / BONOLIS / CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO / de FALLA
Carmen - A ballet in two acts BLU-RAY Rebecca Bianchi, Amar Ramasar / Corpo di Ballo & Orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Louis Lohraseb (conductor) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 10/Oct/2020 ] Choreographer Jiří Bubeníček's Carmen celebrates the incredible inspiration of Bizet's timeless music in a completely new two-act ballet that also includes music by Albéniz, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Falla, orchestrated and adapted by Gabriele Bonolis.... |
ALBENIZ / BIZET / BONOLIS / CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO / de FALLA
Carmen - A ballet in two acts Rebecca Bianchi, Amar Ramasar / Corpo di Ballo & Orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Louis Lohraseb (conductor) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2020 ] Choreographer Jiří Bubeníček's Carmen celebrates the incredible inspiration of Bizet's timeless music in a completely new two-act ballet that also includes music by Albéniz, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Falla, orchestrated and adapted by Gabriele Bonolis |