Erich Kunzel’s highly enjoyable ballet album offers a wide sampling of music from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Naturally the emphasis is on French and Russian composers, centered on the usual suspects–Delibes, Adam, Tchaikovsky, Minkus, and Stravinsky–and including Soviet-era composers Gliere, Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, and Shostakovich. Familiar items include selections from Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Golden Age, Red Poppy, Giselle, Coppélia, Sylvia, The Firebird, and Chopin’s Les Sylphides. Manuel de Falla breaks up this Franco-Russian block with his “Spanish Dance” from La Vida Breve.
As with his other compilation albums, Kunzel easily adapts to the varied musical styles, with the Tchaikovsky works being more suited to his particular temperament than most of the other selections. While no individual performance could be considered definitive or especially memorable (the Russian Sailor’s Dance is too tame, and Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance could use a good deal more ferocity), Kunzel maintains a consistent level of energy and enthusiasm, and the Cincinnati Pops provides polished and colorful playing throughout. The disc opens with the resplendent brass fanfare from Dukas’ La Peri and closes with two Offenbach “bonus” tracks. Telarc furnishes its usual vivid and wide-open rendering of Cincinnati’s acoustically dry Music Hall, which sounds pretty impressive on this stereo SACD.
