Sleeve Notes: If ever you are haunted by an attractive, piquant tune which you cannot place—probably nineteenth-century French, too light-fingered for Gounod, not individual enough for Bizet or Massenet, yet far more so than Saint-Sans—you may be fairly certain that … Continued
Sleeve Notes: Michael Fokine’s Les Sylphides, a ” romantic reverie ” in one scene, is deservedly the most celebrated example of a ballet blanc without story or plot in which the abstract, expressive qualities of classical dancing are used to … Continued
Sleeve Notes: CHOPIN: LES SYLPHIDES In 1894 Glazunov published an orchestral suite entitled “Chopiniana,” consisting of orchestrations of four piano pieces by Chopin. At the start of the new century the choreographer Michael Fokine (1880-1942) decided to use this suite … Continued
Sleeve Notes In the year spanning 1887 and 1888, Nicolai Andreyvitch Rimsky-Korsakov managed to produce three symphonic tributes to three separate lands — his own Russia, Spain, and the Land of Make-Believe. The Russian Easter Overture (Opus 36) and Capriccio … Continued
Sleeve Notes: Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” provided its composer with one of the greatest triumphs of his short lifetime; this event took place about six months after the world premiere in Vienna on the 1st May 1786, when … Continued
Sleeve Notes: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840- 1893) Incredible though it may now seem, both “Swan Lake” and ‘The Nutcracker” ballets were failures when first presented. Label: Chevron CHVL 116 1979 1970s Covers
Sleeve Notes: It was in 1863 that the history of the most perfect of operettas might perhaps be said to have begun. That year the Concordia, a journalists’ club in Vienna, had invited both Johann Strauss and the great Jacques … Continued
Sleeve Notes: Notes by HERBERT KUPFERBERG Editor for the Arts of the New York Herald Tribune Few rivers have been celebrated in music as memorably as the Moldau. The Mississippi was glorified in a famous song from the Broadway musical … Continued
Sleeve Notes: SIDE ONEACT I Band 1 – Prelude The orchestral prelude is built on three themes from the opera. First comes the march that in the last act accompanies the procession to the bullring. It is succeeded by the … Continued
Sleeve Notes: SIDE ONELalo Symphonie espagnole, op.21 First movement: Allegro non troppo Second movement: Scherzando. Allegro molto Third movement: Intermezzo. Allegretto non troppo Fourth movement: AndanteSIDE TWO Lalo Symphonie espagnole, op.21 Fifth movement: Rondo. Allegro Paganini Introduction and Variations on … Continued