Pedro Halffter Caro - Don Quijote - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Leon (Ludwig) Minkus (1826-1917) Don Quixote (Ballet in Three Acts) performed by the Sofia National Orchestra conducted by Nayden Todorov. Recorded at the National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria April 1-7, 2002. Austrian born Minkus settled in Russia where he established a long & successful career with choreographer Marius Petipa for whom Minkus wrote the music for more than fifteen ballets. InchAs one would expect from a ballet by Minkus, Don Quixote is full of lively dances and attractive melodies, all of it well crafted and colorfully orchestrated, if without the genius of Tchaikovsky and Delibes. That said, it makes for undemanding, entertaining listening, with it's dashes of Spanish coloring (the Spanish dances are especially attractive) and plenty of character dances, such as the Sailor's Dance in Act II, to enjoy. The performance is lively and sympathetic and the recording reasonably good (it lacks a certain richness) at the price, admirers of both light music and ballet should not hesitate there is plenty to enjoy here.Inch- Penguin Guide.

In March 1995, soon after the German Veracity tag issued Wolfways, and just before they did Parsnips Snips (1995) (Hurley's first vinyl after a nine-year drought), the Great Snock undertook his first European tour. Joined by bassist Robert Michener (from the Richmond scene Hurley'd been involved in) and percussionist Mickey Bones (legendary Boston drummer & bones player), Hurley hit a bunch of places and Germany and also KLUB K4 in Llubjana, Slovenia, where this set was recorded. The sound is beautiful, the band plays with lazy perfection, and Hurley's vocals are energetically melodic. He does some songs that were only released on the series of cassettes that immediately preceded Wolfways ('Horse's Ass, The Beggar's Terms'), stuff from Wolfways ('Letter in Neon, Portland Water, I Paint a Design'), classics like 'O My Stars,' and a few cover tunes. And More! Packed up in a new Hurley art cover design (based on the Euro tour t-shirt), with great liner notes detailing the rigors of a German press junket from right before the tour-proper, this package is sure to please discerning Snockophiles of all stripes. It's a fantastic spin. Dig in today. -Byron Coley, 2018.

A contemporary of Rossini and Donizetti, Saverio Mercadante was one of Italy's most productive 19th century operatic composers. Don Chisciotte alle nozze di Gamaccio was written during the composer's stay in Spain, and is based on a chapter of Cervante's Don Quixote in which the hero prevents the forced marriage of a poor farm girl to the wealthy Camacho. Magnificently entertaining and dramatically innovative, Don Chisciotte combines fashionable Neapolitan style with Spanish folk music elements in an unforgettable melodrama giocoso. It is heard on this recording in it's first modern performance. Antonino Fogliani's many conducting engagements have taken him to leading international opera houses and concert halls. For Rossini in Wildbad he has directed Ciro in Babilonia, L'occasione fa il ladro, Mose in Egitto, La scala di seta, Il signor Bruschino and Otello, as well as Vaccaj's La sposa di Messina.