Jacques Offenbach wrote some of the most effervescent and memorable dance melodies in history, tunes an audience can sing while coming out of the theater at the end of a performance. It would be hard to find anyone who has not heard the famous “can-can” from Orpheus in the Underworld. That piece is included on this CD, along with many other familiar tunes, presented in various arrangements and fantasies and played with toe-tapping abandon by the virtuoso Radio Lyrique Orchestra. Under the direction of Marcel Cariven and featuring full-bodied, engaging violin solos by André Aubigny, these performances perfectly capture the “lilt” needed to make these dance movements work. The waltzes, in particular, are just right: the third beat lifts to the first while avoiding any hint of German beer garden “oom-pah”. This is a boisterous and happy recording in which everyone literally seems to be having a ball–and thanks to full-bodied engineering, that feeling is passed along to the CD listener. The brasses sound particularly splendid, there is ample well-focused bass, and the percussion balance is close to ideal. [3/21/2000]
