A joyful set of dances that actually dance
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/18/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"English-born Andrew Mogrelia, currently the conductor of the San Francisco Ballet pit orchestra, has made a name for himself by being one of the best conductors on the Naxos label, where he oversees romantic ballet socres like Coppelia and Sylvia, along with later great balets by Tchaikovksy and Prokofiev. He has dance in his soul, and here he beats out some name conductors (Reiner, Abbado, Karajan) with aa set of the usually ho-hum Hungarian Dances of Brahms. Every note of this CD is full of joy and brio--I oculdnd't wait for the next number to appear. The Philharmonia Cassovia (even Google can't tell me anything about them) is a lively bunch, by no means first rate but equal to the task, and the somewhat roomy recording is fine. Altogether, a delightful surprise."