Search - Carl Maria von Weber, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt :: Invitation to the Dance

A fizzy pops program, gorgeously done

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 03/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Serious listeners might pass up this grab bag of dance music, roughly half of it extracted from operas, but Karajan was great in this repertoire, and this sparkling CD is no exception. For one thing, it's in demonstration quality sound, and the Berliners stay on their toes -- the execution of Weber's Invitation to the Dance is a real delight.



One failing is the lack of rusticity in the Bartered Bride excerpts and th un-Russian urbanity of the Polovtsian Dances. We are definitely in a German concert hall touring other lands via picture postcards. If you can accept Karajan's smooth style, this whole collection fizzes right along. Note the rarity included among the chestnuts: six minutes of ballet music, smoky and Oriental in flavor, that Verdi wrote for Act III of Otello. I doubt even the most experienced opera goers have run across it more than once in their wanderings. Even on records only the most complete versions include it."

Get acquainted with von Karajan

Robert T. Martin | 04/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A delightful program which demonstrates the hallmarks of von Karajan's music making: gorgeous orchestral tone and color, brilliant execution and solid tempos. While the Czech and Russian pieces could, I suppose, be more "Czech" or "Russian" we lose nothing in von Karajan's translations-he has the uncanny ability to carry the listener along with him regardless of the languauge. The sound is about as good as it gets."