Complete Ballet Music from the Operas

Description

Product Description

This unique programme is the first time that all the ballet music from Verdi’ operas has been brought together in a singe recording. Although the Four Seasons from I vespri Sicilian and the ballet scenes from Aida and Otello have survived.

Review

Artistic Quality: 10
Sound Quality: 10

The only other serious competition in this repertoire, and it’s not nearly as complete as this release (the Aida items are missing!), is an old Philips Due mostly conducted by the late Antonio de Almeida. Those are good performances, but they don’t outclass these, either interpretively or sonically. You might say that it doesn’t take much interpretive insight to conduct Italian ballet music, but ultimately the goal is always the same: to avoid boredom. This may be even harder in music whose purpose is largely decorative and expressively limited. It’s to Serebrier’s (and Verdi’s) credit that there isn’t a bar here that fails to entertain, or that doesn’t make an excellent case for believing that this music is of much higher quality than its reputation suggests.

The ballet from Aida is well known, of course, but that from Otello is a minor masterpiece in a strikingly similar vein. ‘The Four Seasons’ ballet from I vespri siciliani is Verdi’s largest, lasting a solid half an hour, and it’s wonderfully performed here. It has moments that you might mistake for Delibes or Tchaikovsky. Don Carlos is also fully mature Verdi, while the ballet in Macbeth is pretty well known as it’s often included in modern performances of the opera (the witches’ waltz at the end is particularly fun). The two big ‘finds’ for most listeners will be the extensive ballet music from Jerusalem (a.k.a. I lombardi), and the similarly large-scale (20 minutes) dance episodes from Il trovatore. This last item quotes the ‘gypsy’ tunes from the opera’s first act, including the Anvil Chorus, and it’s really delightful. The sonics are clear and vivid, and with a playing time of nearly two hours, this set easily becomes the modern reference for this undervalued repertoire. –David Hurwitz

Think you know your Verdi operas? With this month’s selection, featuring the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with Jose Serebrier on the podium, you might be surprised at how much music Giuseppe Verdi wrote for his operas that is rarely heard in public today.

Blame it on Paris. In the 19th century – when Paris was the capital of the ballet world – it was expected that a composer premiering an opera at The Opera write a ballet for the third act. Despite his assertion that this practice would ‘break the continuity of the action.’ Verdi obligingly wrote ballet music for the operas he adapted or composed outright for the Paris stage. Often he was more than obliging, writing 15 or 20 minutes, even a half hour of music to accompany this purely non-vocal, plot-stopping segment of his work.

Nowadays, when these operas are performed, the ballet sections usually get the ax. Not so with conductor Jose Serebrier, who insists on including Verdi’s ballet scenes in his performances of the operas, and who conducts all of Verdi’s operatic ballet music with England’s Bournemouth Symphony in this innovative and very enjoyable two-disc set from Naxos.

The most familiar music here comes from operas where the ballet action is actually an essential component of the story. Verdi’s exotic, Eastern-inflected music for Aida is tinged with restlessness and excitement. And the evocative ‘Four Seasons’ ballet from I Vespri Siciliani is a half-hour of pure sensuousness and delight.

Rarely heard, but a treat if you’re a fan of the work, Verdi’s ballet music for Il Trovatore quotes melodies heard elsewhere in the opera, including the popular ‘Anvil Chorus.’ A beguiling Turkish motif opens the relatively brief ballet music for Otello, which packs an astonishing number of changes in mood and atmosphere into its 5.5 minutes. A true discovery in this collection is the music for the 1847 opera Jerusalem (AKA I Lombardi), which bookends quintessentially Parisian gallops and can-cans around lovelier, more intimate passages featuring solo flute, oboe, and harp.

With his ballet music, Verdi provided more than mere accompaniment to the dancers. His trademark long, flowing, and singing lines are instantly captivating, and the variety of dance forms and patterns he employs, sometimes in quick succession, keeps things interesting. The music holds up well next to the ballet scores of other great Romantic composers like Tchaikovsky and Delibes.

The Bournemouth Symphony performs this music with obvious affection. The players are quick-witted and responsive to the frequent tempo and mood changes and play with such precision and understatedness that you can practically see the dancers. The ensemble playing is tight, and the soloists are top-notch. If you’re an opera or ballet music lover wanting to hear more of Verdi than usually meets the ears, this recording will not fail to charm. –WRTI Radio, Mark Pinto