Search - Johann II [Junior] Strauss, Baron Frederic Erlanger, Emmanuel Chabrier :: Antal Dorati & Les Ballets Russes

Nights at the ballet in the 1930s.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 06/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This valuable CD is recommended to all ballet enthusiasts and record collectors. It revives a glittering epoch in the history of ballet, a time in the 1930s after the so-called "Ballet Russes" companies succeeded Diaghileff's original Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo. During London seasons, the London Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras with conductors Efrem Kurtz and the young Antal Dorati were engaged. Recordings made at the time of four ballets from the repertoire are collected on this CD.Of special interest is the one act ballet "The Hundred Kisses" provided by eclectic composer and wealthy impresario Baron Frederic d'Erlanger in 1935. Evocative, colorful and brilliantly orchestrated, it suggests perhaps a more cosmopolitan Eric Coates. My Australian pressings of the original recordings credit the performance to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but on this CD the London Symphony is named. The other ballets derive from music of earlier times, and receive virtuoso performances here under Dorati's direction. Kingsway Hall acoustics enhance the sound quality, especially in the d'Erlanger ballet, although less so in two of the other recordings, and "Le beau Danube" was recorded in Abbey Road Studio, London. A scholarly history of the ballet scene in the 1930s is provided by Dr Arthur Zimmerman."