Search - Colours of the Orchestra :: Panorama: Colours of the Orchestra

Terrific orchestral sampler from DG

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 08/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The long-sheet insert that accompanies DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON's COLOURS OF THE ORCHESTRA contains an essay in German, French and English, plus a timeline beginning with "Dresden Court Orchestra-1548" and ending at "American seating plan becomes standard-after 1945."



Archival recordings span the years 1959-1997. Good headphones reveal the difference between analog tracks and digital. Besides a quiet background hiss there's less vibrance and transparency with the older selections. To be fair, those listening in the car or on a less-than high end stereo may not notice all that much.



This album favors Gallic composers: Delibes, Chabrier, Fauré, Enesco and especially Berlioz. (Berlin Radio Symphony's "Rákóczy March" is marvelous, BTW.) Even Bavarian-born Charles Gluck was influenced by French opera and lived in Paris.



RANDOM NOTES--

Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops "Toccata & Fugue" is typically overdone.



After all that orchestral bombast, Bernstein's Adagio For Strings (Barber) is welcome aural relief.



Opening melody and coda of Boccherini's String Quintet should be familiar to all.



Von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic fans will love his Hungarian Dance #1.



DISC TWO opens with a wonderfully-recorded Chabrier march. Kudos to Detroit Symphony.



Delibes' ballet Gavotte is one most of us first heard in cartoons. Gothenburg Symphony handles it well.



Elgar's String Serenade is presented in full (tracks #7-9).



At times, Enescu's Roumanian Rhapsody whirls like a top. London Symphony delivers one of this CD's highlights.



Gounod's Faust waltz is the other, thanks to von Karajan and the Berlin Phil.



Funeral March of a Marionette also opened and closed the 1950s TV series, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS."