A sprightly recording of Respighi’s wonderful tapestry of Rossini’s music for the ballet stage is coupled with some of the most gorgeous orchestral playing you’ll ever hear in the Chopin/Douglas ‘Les Sylphides’. And to finish off, a much-popularised recording of the ‘Meditation from Thaïs’ – from a young Nigel Kennedy!
Ballet hybrids often eclipse the originals from which they are drawn and such is the case with the music on this disc. Including such popular pieces as the ‘Can Can’ from Orpheus in the Underworld and the ‘Barcarolle’ from The Tales of Hoffman, there is possibly no better recording on the market than Solti’s Gaite […]
This release gathers together – under the perceptive and sympathetic musicianship of Ernest Ansermet – a selection of music by (and refashioned by) Ottorino Respighi with a very high quotient of colour, atmosphere, rhythmic vitality and touching lyricism. ‘The Fountains of Rome’ and ‘The Pines of Rome’ are two-thirds of the composer’s Roman Trilogy (the third […]
