The immediate thing that struck me, as I unpacked this two-disc
set, was the obvious indication that ballet is for women! The
excessive “girlie” package, in different shades of pink, with
a drawing of a ballerina in the middle of white stars of various
sizes, nearly put me in a foul mood! I do not like stereotypes
and I thought that in this our 21st century, people
actually understood that ballet is an art-form, which appeals
and can be appreciated by both sexes without discrimination.
Judging by the packaging of the present compilation, I was wrong!
And now with that off my chest, I will actually write about
this anthology entitled “I Love Ballet”.
The important thing to bear in mind when one listens to this
set, is that it actually is completely irrelevant whether you
love or hate ballet or whether you are male or female. The absolute
star is the music. There is no better introduction to ballet
music than Tchaikovsky’s marvellous score to Swan Lake,
which forms tracks one to four of the first CD. This is followed
by more Tchaikovsky with The Nutcracker and Sleeping
Beauty. What we have here are the ultimate highlights, the
most inspiring and arguably the best pieces ever composed for
the ballet and these were all written by Tchaikovsky. The extracts
from the three ballet scores are beautifully performed by the
Philharmonia Orchestra under the illustrious baton of composer
and conductor, John Lanchery, who died in 2003. The music speaks
for itself and if one is not moved by its dramatic, emotional
power or its witty, magical moments, as for example the lovely
Puss in Boots and the White Cat, from Sleeping Beauty;
then I fear one has a heart of stone! The Tchaikovsky tracks
represent the peak of this compilation, closely followed by
the charming highlights of Delibes’s Coppélia, two magnificent
passages from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and the most
significant moments of Cinderella by the same composer.
Coppélia is beautifully delivered by the Orchestre du
Théàtre National de l’ Opéra de Paris, conducted by Jean-Baptiste
Mari in a recording from 1977. The various parts of both Prokofiev
ballets – Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella – are
performed by the London Symphony Orchestra led by André Previn.
The first is a recording from 1973, which I found a little dry,
lacking sentimental intensity particularly in the balcony scene,
though the orchestra’s performance is technically excellent.
The second was recorded ten years later, in 1983, and is a very
fine delivery by both conductor and orchestra.
There are some other pleasant, very popular moments from a series
of celebrated pieces: Khachaturian’s famous Sabre Dance
from Gayaneh; Saint-Saëns’ The Swan from Carnival
of the Animals, choreographed, as The Dying Swan,
by Mikhail Fokine for the fabulous Anna Pavlova who premiered
it in 1905; and The Dance of the Hours, possibly known
to most people from the wonderful sequence with the ballet-dancing
hippos, ostriches, alligators and elephants in Walt Disney’s
1940 animated feature film Fantasia. The music was composed
by Ponchielli and is from his opera La Gioconda. We are
delivered here an excellent, energetic interpretation by Karajan
with the Philharmonia, in a recording from 1961.
The quality of the compilation is sadly not uniform throughout.
The best CD is the first with all the Tchaikovsky ballets, Delibes’s
Coppélia and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Besides
Cinderella and the famous, short pieces that I have mentioned
above, CD 2 does not have many memorable moments. The obligatory
passages from Adam’s Giselle and Delibes’s Sylvia
are very fine indeed, particularly the latter where the excitement
of the huntresses is wonderfully captured by Sir Charles Mackerras
with the New Philharmonia Orchestra. However, I felt untouched
and slightly let down by the performance of Chopin’s music in
Les Sylphides and I was unable to relate to the Tales
of Beatrix Potter and La fille mal gardée without
actually having the dancers moving in front of me.
Overall, the sound quality is excellent and although some of
the earlier recordings were remastered before, the whole compilation
was digitally remastered once again with the technology available
in 2009, which to my mind considerably increased the clarity
of the music.
In spite of my initial disappointment with the exceedingly pink
package, I Love Ballet is overall an attractive compilation
of some very good music and other, slightly less good but pleasant
enough. Above all, I think it is an excellent introduction to
classical ballet music for beginners of all ages and at £8.50
for a two-CD set actually very good value for money.
Margarida Mota-Bull
Full track listing
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY
Swan Lake (1875-76) Act II: Scene [2.31],
Dance of the Little Swans [1.27]; Act III: Spanish
Dance [2.33], Neapolitan Dance [2.00]
Philharmonia Orchestra / John Lanchbery, rec. 1982
The Nutcracker (1892) Act I: March [2.24];
Act II: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy [2.22],
Trepak: Russian Dance [1.09], Chocolate: Spanish Dance
[1.10], Coffee: Arab Dance [3.35], Tea: Chinese
Dance [0.59], Dance of the Reed Flutes [2.35],
Waltz of the Flowers [7.26]
Philharmonia Orchestra / John Lanchbery, rec. 1982
Sleeping Beauty (1888-89) Act I: Rose Adagio
[6.36]; Act III: Puss in Boots and the White Cat
[2.15], The Bluebird and Princess Florine (Pas de deux,
Variation 1, Variation 2, Coda) [5.08], Red Riding Hood
and the Wolf [1.11]
Philharmonia Orchestra / John Lanchbery, rec. 1982
Léo DELIBES
Coppélia (1870) Act I: Waltz [2.42],
Mazurka [4.41]; Act II: Waltz of the Doll [2.16];
Act III: Celebration Dance [1.36]
Orchestre du Théàtre National de l’ Opéra de Paris / Jean-Baptiste
Mari, rec. 1977
Sylvia (1876) Act I: The Huntresses [3.44];
Act III: Pizzicati [1.48]
New Philharmonia Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras, rec. 1970
William Turner WALTON
Façade (1922) Polka [1.23], Popular
Song [2.24]
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Malcolm Sargent, rec. 1961
Sergey PROKOFIEV
Romeo and Juliet (1835-36) Act I: Dance of
the Knights [5.39], Balcony Scene [8.35]
London Symphony Orchestra / André Previn, rec. 1973
Cinderella (1940-44) Act I: Dance with the
Shawl [3.30], Spring Fairy 1.25], Summer Fairy
[1.44], Grasshoppers and Dragonflies [0.52], Autumn
Fairy [1.30], Winter Fairy [1.15], Cinderella’s
departure for the ball [2.14]; Act II: Duet of
the sisters with their oranges [1.32], Pas de deux: The
Prince and Cinderella [4.45]
London Symphony Orchestra / André Previn, rec. 1983
Adolphe ADAM
Giselle (1844) Act I: Waltz [3.54];
Act II: Pas de deux [4.25]
Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Irving, rec. 1962
Amilcare PONCHIELLI
La Gioconda (1876) Act III: Dance of the Hours
[9.50]
Philharmonia Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan, rec. 1961
Frédéric CHOPIN
Les Sylphides: Prelude in A Op. 28 No. 7 (1835-39)
[3.18], Grande Valse brillante in E flat Op. 18 (1831-32)
[5.00]
Philharmonia Orchestra / Robert Irving, rec. 1959
Jacques OFFENBACH
Gaité Parisienne (1938) Overture [2.17]
Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra / Manuel Rosenthal, rec.
1977
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
The Dying Swan: Carnival of the Animals (The
Swan) (1886) [2.33]
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Louis Frémaux, rec.
1975
John LANCHBERY
Tales of Beatrix Potter (1970) Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’s
Laundry [2.20], The Mouse Waltz [4.47]
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden / John Lanchbery,
rec. 1971 in association with G. W. Films Ltd
Arthur SULLIVAN
Pineapple Poll: Opening Dance [3.43]
London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras, rec.
1978
Aram KHACHATURIAN
Gayaneh (1939-41) Sabre Dance [2.20]
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Yuri Temirkanov, rec. 1986
Ferdinand HÉROLD
La fille mal gardée (1828) Act I: Dance of
the Cock and Hens [1.07], Widow Simone – Clog Dance [2.40];
Act II: Finale [4.24]
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Barry Wordsworth, rec.
1988
Full track listing with performers at end of review 
