Gliere - Russian Ballet Favorites - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Listening pleasure with the finest compositions of classical ballet music from the late Romantic period - Pyotr Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty (waltz, Adagio), The Nutcracker (Overture, dance the fairy Blumenwalzer others), Swan Lake (Spanish Dance, Waltz, etc.) - Alexander Glazunov the Seasons (spring) - Léo Delibes Festival of Watches & dance of hours, among other things, Sylvia (Intermezzo, waltz), Kassya (Trepak) - Sergei Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (Suite no. 1, no. 2), Cinderella (Introduction, Cinderella Waltz).

Of all the major Russian composers, Reinhold Gliere is one of the least well-known in the West. His life spanned a vast period from the Czar's reign to Soviet dictatorship, and he made it through the Stalin era relatively intact by mostly avoiding conflict without losing face. Such dilemmas were to haunt the lives of Gliere's pupil Prokofiev, and especially that of his colleague Shostakovich, 30 years younger, but they were not yet current in 1900, when 20 year old Gliere, still a student, injected all of his youthful verve into composing his String Octet in D Major Op. 5. The work soon gained immense popularity in Russia. Shostakovich's Two Pieces for String Octet, Op. 11 let us look back upon the beginning of an outstanding musical carer that was overshadowed by harsh difficulties. These two pieces with the headings Prelude and Scherzo are from the period when Shostakovich was still a student. Reynaldo Hahn was a student of Maurice Ravel at Paris Conservatoire. He studied composition with several professors including Jules Massenet. He gained considerable renown with his song cycles, operettas, and ballets. His Piano Quintet in F Sharp Minor is a rhapsodic work in the lineage of French Late Romanticism.

The familiar maxim of the triple threat - singer, songwriter, entertainer - didn't begin to cover it for Toby Keith, one of the most prolific self-directed creative forces in country's modern era. The new compilation, 13 Number Ones, features 13 of his biggest and most beloved country singles released between 1993 and 2005. The songs selected were always performed live by Keith. Nearly all the songs on 13 Number Ones are performed during the Toby Keith American Icon All Star Celebration concert and were consistently part of his concert setlists. Keith amassed 42 Top 10 hits, 33 No. 1s and 44 million albums sold. Among his many accomplishments, the New York-based, all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame (2015), the National Medal of Arts (2021), the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (2021), and BMI Icon (2022) were his most treasured. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame shortly before his passing in February 2024.