Search - Leo Delibes, Andrew Mogrelia, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) :: Delibes: Coppélia (complete in three acts) / La Source (suites)

A full-length Coppelia at an appealing price

ATP | Santa Monica, CA United States | 06/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Andrew Mogrelia has conducted a number of full-length ballets for Naxos: Giselle, Sylvia, Sleeping Beauty, and this Coppelia. I own all of them, because I find Mogrelia is one of those rare conductors who make a ballet sound like a ballet.
In concert hall versions, conductors often make ballet music impossibly fast, or simply too unpredictable. (Gergiev's Nutcracker is in this category: fun to listen to, definitely NOT a dancer's Nutcracker.) But when dancers are on stage, they need a regular, dependable beat to dance to. Mogrelia's Coppelia never sounds sing-song, because he uses dynamics so skillfully - but he does conduct at an authentic dance tempo.
Another Coppelia I like and own is Mark Ermler's (ASIN: B0000024CL), but while it's much more than highlights it is not the full ballet. The first act mazurka is missing, and that's a definite loss.
La Source is a bit of an oddity because it was originally commissioned as a sort of competition: half composed by Minkus, half by Delibes. Delibes was generally considered the winner, so he stayed in Paris while Minkus went off to Russia. This album is strictly Delibes, so it's only highlights from La Source. But it does include my favorite, the utterly charming Pas des Fleurs, Grande Valse."

Inspired ballet music at a bargain price.

D. R. Schryer | Poquoson, VA United States | 07/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I'm not particularly fond of watching ballets I have a special love for ballet music, and Coppelia is one of my favorites. It is the masterpiece of Leo Delibes who was one of the greatest of ballet composers. Even Tchaikovsky -- probably the greatest ballet composer of all -- greatly admired Delibes' work. This recording presents not only the complete music for Coppelia but also the lovely, but seldom-heard, music Delibes wrote for La Source -- both conducted by the excellent ballet conductor Andrew Mogrelia. And at a bargain price to boot. Please don't pass up this special treasure."

Coppelia

7luckey7 | 07/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I ordered two DVD versions of Coppelia along with this CD in order to learn the choreography from the ballet. My only complaint about this CD is that the music is considerably faster than either of the orchestras have played the score on the DVDs. This makes it difficult to learn the choreography with out slowing down the CD on a variable speed CD player."