Ballet Adagios

• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 130:50
• Release Date: 2009

Review

Ballet Adagios is a double-disc collection of dances and excerpts from ballets that generally have slow tempos and lyrical expressions as common features. Taken from Decca's backlist of recordings made between 1960 and 1993, the selections represent the most famous ballet composers, necessarily featuring the most important of all -- Léo Delibes, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, and Sergey Prokofiev -- but also including composers whose operatic and instrumental music has significantly contributed to the dance repertoire, such as Jules Massenet, Camille Saint-Saëns, Aram Khachaturian, Charles Gounod, and Johann Strauss II, among others. The performances by the world's leading orchestras are conducted by such prominent maestros as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Richard Bonynge, Antal Dorati, Charles Dutoit, and David Zinman, and the atmosphere created by these musicians is appropriately warm and romantic. Because recording technology changed dramatically over the years spanning these performances, the sound is a little variable in tone and background ambience, but all are quite clear and noise-free, and any traces of analog tape hiss are slight on the ADD tracks. The all-digital recordings are clean and well-balanced, and the moderate volume levels running through this appealing twofer are consistent, so there are few spots where adjustments are necessary. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	The Sleeping Beauty, ballet, Op. 66 (Rose Adagio)	6:39
Camille Saint-Saëns	The Swan (from "Carnival of the Animals"), original (for 2 pianos & ensemble) and arrangements	3:23
Jules Massenet	La Vierge, sacred legend in 4 acts (The Last Sleep of the Virgin)	5:08
Frédéric Chopin	Les sylphides, ballet (arrangement) (Nocturne)	6:12
Charles Gounod	Faust, opera (Ballet Music: Adagio)	4:07
Alphons Czibulka	Love's Dream after the Ball, Op 356	4:51
Léo Delibes	Coppélia, suite for orchestra (Peace)	4:44
Igor Stravinsky	L'oiseau de feu (The Firebird), ballet suite for orchestra (Berceuse)	4:43
Jules Massenet	Le cigale, ballet in 2 acts (Valse très lente)	4:30
Benjamin Britten	Matinées musicales (Rossini Suite No.2), for orchestra, Op. 24 (Nocturne)	3:02
Johann Strauss II	Le Beau Danube (The Blue/Beautiful Danube), ballet (Strauss works arr. by Desormière)	6:00
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Souvenir d'un lieu cher, for violin & piano (or orchestra), Op. 42 (Mélodie)	4:12
Sergey Prokofiev	Romeo and Juliet, ballet in 4 acts, Op. 64 (The Last Farewell)	9:31
Jules Massenet	Thaïs, opera in 3 acts (Méditation)	5:45
Aram Khachaturian	Spartacus, ballet (Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia)	9:08
Frédéric Chopin	Les sylphides, ballet (arrangement) (Waltz)	4:27
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	The Swan Lake, ballet, Op. 20 (The Black Swan)	9:36
Jules Massenet	Le roi de Lahore, opera in 5 acts (3 versions) (Act 5. Entr'acte / Act 3. Adagio & Valse)	7:18
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Nutcracker, ballet, Op. 71 (Waltz of the Flowers)	6:53
Aram Khachaturian	Gayane, ballet in 4 acts (Gayaneh's Adagio)	4:18
Jules Massenet	Suite No.7 for orchestra ("Scènes alsaciennes") (Dimanche matin)	8:03
Sergey Prokofiev	Cinderella, ballet, Op. 87 (Valse)	5:24
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	The Swan Lake, ballet, Op. 20 (Act 1. Finale)	2:56

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