Keith Brion - Columbus Suite - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The wonderful Naxos American Classics series is full of surprises. After firmly associating Victor Herbert with memorable melodies based on banal lyrics, we now get Columbus Suite/ Irish Rhapsody played by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) under Keith Brion. The opening InchAuditorium Festival MarchInch is pure Sousa out of Germany where Herbert learned his craft, while the InchIrish RhapsodyInch recalls the more familiar tunes from his land of birth. The third cut gives us a quarter hour of selections from his opera InchNatoma,Inch and very impressive they are. But the real surprise comes on cuts 4-7 where we hear, probably for the first time, his InchColumbus SuiteInch in four movements Dawn and Sunrise at Alhambra, At La Rabida, Murmurs of the Sea, and Triumph-the Vision of Columbus.