Search - Carl Maria von Weber, Adolphe Adam, Charles Gounod :: Invitation to the Dance

Ballet music for the Optimistic Spirit

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 09/06/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Assuming that you have the necessary good hifi equipment to make this CD sound as it was intended, this is a fine recording of some ballet highlights that will have you tapping your foot, humming along and generally enjoying life, very much as I suspect the Slovakian musicians did while playing (in February 1988). Weber's 'Invitation to the Dance' is the version orchestrated by Berlioz for the last act of 'Der Freischütz' and is, in my opinion, more subtle than the original piano version (which is also definitely worth listening to). The ballet music from Adam's 'Giselle' and from Gounod's 'Faust' is equally delightful, and the brass is put to some very good effect, especially at the close of the 'Walpurgis-Nacht' scene from Faust/Margarete. The suite of oriental dances from Délibes' 'Lakmé' is short but fascinating; and perhaps the best piece is saved until last: Ponchielli's 'Dance of the Hours' from 'La Gioconda'; the main theme of this beauty was once re-worked into a highly successful pop song by the title of 'Hello, Mudder, hello, Fadder', but only folks of 50 and older will remember it, I guess.



The recording was made in the empty Concert Hall of the Slovakian Radio in Bratislava, and there is a certain amount of echo which is not really appropriate. Also I found that when playing the CD on inferior equipment such as a CD-ROM player, there was a lot of background noise and the sound came over quite weak. On good hifi equipment these problems disappear; don't ask me why."